If The World Is Ending, I'm Throwing The Party
by stcarbythesea
Summary: When Santana joined the New Directions she thought she was making a move to improve her odds against a dying world, being caught in another gang's web was definitely not part of the plan. AU Brittana, attempted post-apocalyptic fic.
1. Chapter 1

**If The World Is Ending, I'm Throwing The Party**

A few months ago I decided to take a shot at some pos-apocalyptic Brittana AU fic but it really wasn't going as I wanted. I decided to let the idea cook itself in my head for a bit and tonight I thought it was about time I gave it another try. I hope you enjoy it.

The title is from this old Cobra Starship song called Guilty Pleasure and the title from the chapter comes from The Killers' song. Tell me what you think about this first chapter, if I should have a go with it.

I obviously don't own any of the characters and blah.

**Chapter 1 - The Runaways**

So I'm inside this van, I have a bag over my head and I'm trying to figure out how've gotten in this sticky situation. And by sticky I mean I'm covered in red ink except for my head. As soon as they put this over my head, they showered me with ink.

I really don't understand a thing.

But let's start from the beginning, how rude of me to bother you with my problems without introducing myself. My name is Santana Lopez and until 2 hours ago I was a leader of a small bunch of young adults trying to survive after the end of the world.

We called ourselves The New Directions, I didn't like it but Will insisted that, since he is the oldest of all of us, he should pick the name. But don't be fooled, I am the leader of all of them, unofficially of course but like I said, I'm Santana Lopez and I always gets what I wants.

So we were preparing a raid to this old abandoned building, some of our trackers had gone there two days ago and we found a storage facility in the basement. They had thousands of canned goods and it was apparently like that Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory of that story the ladies in the orphanage used to read to me.

Our food was ending, it was not like we had a choice, we either starve to death or take a chance. The next town is miles away and we don't have any money available to spend on food for everybody, we need it to get ammunition.

If you had asked me, I would have told you getting 6 people on this mission was suicide. But obviously Will got greedy. I would have left the hobbit at home with Finn. But no, they we had all to come. Puck, Will, Emma, Rachel, Finn and me made our way here with very little ammo. The idea was to have all the free hands we could so we didn't have to worry about food for a while. I had a bad feeling but Puck said it was only his smell. He hasn't showered in a bit, not because we didn't cross paths with water but because he says it makes him feel more badass.

We were careful, I swear we were. There was no military in sight for half a mile, we were tracking their radio transmissions. So who are this people? I got caught with Finn, that's how lucky I am. I tripped over his gigantic feet and all I remember is feeling some strong hands crushing me to the ground and putting the bag over my head and feeling the paint being all sprayed on my clothes.

They didn't speak a word so far, I have no idea if they are men, women, army or civilian group like us. I don't know if they got the others or where they are taking us.

I'm in the black, which would be ironic if I wasn't blindfolded.

When I was 18 I was obliged to leave the orphanage and if you don't count that moment when I was left on the street with a few clothes and books and no address to call home, I'd say this is as lost as I've ever been.

I can hear distinctively two patterns of breathing on the front seats of this van, besides Finn's almost snort. I can feel by the small bumps and sounds that the texture of the road has changed. We left the debris of the town and we are now on asphalt, I imagine we are leaving the town when it makes a turn towards the deserted field. Everything is rockier, we jump on our positions finding no way to be comfortable while being handcuffed and tied down.

The van finally stops and I hear the front doors opening and closing. They are coming, this is it. Oh what to do? What to do? I think Finn is knocked out, he would have grunted something by now.

Shit, shit. I'm alone in this. As I've been all my life since my parents died in that goddamn car accident two years before the world as we know it ended.

I got lucky in my Lima orphanage, I lived in a small bubble apart from the world for 16 years. After I left, 4 years ago it's been a bumpy ride. Not a fun one but it was okay, I have a survivor DNA. I managed to be okay until I found Will's bunch. I should have left as soon as I bumped into them but they had weapons and Rachel, annoying as she can be, does have a nice voice. I guess I built a home with them. It's sad that it's all over now, I hope Emma didn't get hurt…she's so tiny.

I hear the rear doors opening and a rough voice saying "out".

I scramble my best with my hands tied until the edge of the van and feel the cool air of the night and the smells of the field we were in. I can't hear cars, we must be really far from the road. I do hear talk and music to my left, must be some sort of headquarters.

I feel those strong hands again raising me, locking with my upper hand. The man of the rough voice is picking up Finn who is finally making noises but, by the man's huff, he must have had to pick him up.

"Careful" he says to whoever is picking me up. "The small one is really feisty. Take them to the barn, the boss said she wants to see them straight away."

I miss a step and almost fall on my chin if it wasn't for those arms. Suddenly the cool light breeze stops and I realize I'm indoors, it smells of hay and I hear dog barks echoing inside. They are feeding us to the dogs, I panic before calming myself down, nobody would bother keeping us alive if we were only dog food.

I feel those hands on my shoulders and the strongly push me down, my knees betray me and I collapse. I fell on a bench and those hands help me steady myself. I feel the person circling around me pausing straight in front of me, I hear the feet shuffle and I guess this is it.

I lower my head inside the bag, I really can't believe my life is ending like this. I haven't done anything relevant. I haven't done anything but stealing food and sharing a tune with Rachel. On the books they let me keep when I left, life is so much fuller. It makes so much more sense. I read them over and over again. A few lines every night. They are so worn out. I know Puck really wanted to read 1986 since I told him it was about a future gone wrong, a bit like ours. I hope he is alive to have it now.

Before I can keep making my mental testimony they take the bag out of my head and the light in the barn is suddenly too much. I'm blind like someone who looks directly to the sun.

I blink a few times trying to get my vision back and I begin to slowly see the outline of the person. It's wearing ragged, well worn clothes. The boots are military, the pants are missing a few patches along the legs. The person is crouching in front of me, I begin filling the other gaps on my sight. A woman, pause. Blonde hair, pause. The most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen.

"Welcome to The Runaways. I'm Brittany, you?"


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you for your kind words and thank you for giving this story a shot. Please keep telling me your thoughts, I would love to hear your opinion.

Stuck with me is a Huey Lewis and the News song.

**Chapter 2 - Stuck with me**

"Santana. My name is Santana Lopez." I respond a bit dumbfounded. She sounds bubbly, like a kid anxious to make a new friend.

"Hi Santana, your skin is really pretty. You look good in red." She says staring at me up and down like she's taking my figure in. Scratch that, like she's staring at some wonderful wild animal.

"Thanks, I…I guess." I'd ask her to pinch me just to make sure I'm still awake and not on one of those nonsense dreams I usually have.

"Well, let me tell you a secret. We were supposed to leave you there, we only wanted Finn but I couldn't resist and I told Karofsky that we should totally have you too. You see I've seen you before, on a raid your company made 20 miles away from here. You were the fastest and the coolest. My friends think you are probably too mean to join us but I've told them that you deserve a chance. Everyone those don't you agree?" She looks deep into my eyes and I can't think. How is it possible for someone to have eyes that blue?

"So you are stalking us?" I look around taking in the other members of the crew in the barn. I can't see the people in the back. I know the guy who was dragging Finn must be this tall, muscular boy on the right by the door.

Brittany is now looking down and smiling bashfully to my feet like she's trying to work up the courage to say something to me.

"Well we have been following your gang's moves for a bit but I was mostly stalking you. Our leader, Quinn, has some unfinished business with one of you. Each one of us was assigned to follow one of you. Karofsky has that tall tree boy and I got you, I'd say I got really lucky." She blushes. "We have been apart for three months, we figured that even if you guys were moving as a pack it would be more productive if we found our ways to track you instead of working as a group as well. The storage you assaulted earlier today was mine and Karofsky's. We decided it was about time we met."

"You've been studying me?" I say, mind-blown. How? I could swear I was careful.

"Well I used to work as a message girl when I was tinier, ever since electronics stopped working it was a nice way to make a few extra bucks. My family never had enough money. So I'm a really good runner and I can be really sneaky. That's why I was the only one who could ever catch Lord Tubbington when he ran around the house."

"Lord what?"

"My family's cat. I miss him." She pouts and I swear that combined with her little story it's the cutest thing I've ever seen. I almost forget I'm in a barn, tied hands on a bench, waiting for somebody who ordered people to track us down.

"I'm…sorry, I guess. I have no idea what is the polite thing to say to your kidnapper when she whines about a cat." I'll fake sassy if I have too. She can't see that I find her cute, she mustn't. Oh dear, her hair looks silky…focus Lopez.

"He is not an ordinary cat, he's got issues. He's really sensible about his weight, because he has always been such a chubby kitten. But you remind me of him." She is actually having this conversation with me and saying that my personality matches her cat's. What crazy ass dimension did I get myself into?

"How so?" I might as well indulge her, looks like it's going to be a long night. I'm frowning though, she might be cute as hell but this all sounds weird to me.

"Well, you are both stubborn and funny. You both look a lot more mean than you actually are. You try to smoke but none of you manages to do it without looking like a frog smoking cigars. And you are both very sneaky but what you don't realize that I'm sneakier." She smiles triumphant like she has a lot more but finds these examples more than enough. She changes positions and now is seating cross-legged in front of me.

I laugh hard and tilt my head back, when I bring it to face her she has this shine in her eyes. Like she's proud of making me laugh or something.

"You are one of a kind, Brittany" I say flashing her my best smile. I never got the chance to flirt with a girl since I left the orphanage, might as well do it on the eminence of my death.

"My mom always said that. I like to think myself as a unicorn."

"Unicorn? I thought that was just a mythical creature that most people have no idea it existed."

"It is. But we read the Harry Potter series because my parents loved it and made as all read it. Apparently that's what kids read when they were young and there was a unicorn and it was magical."

"So you are magical?" I snort and raise an eyebrow.

"In more ways than you think." She raises an eyebrow too and gives me a crooked smile.

"Oh I bet you are" I wink at her and she blushes furiously. I lick my lips more because I'm starting to feel thirsty than to be sexy. "could I have some water please?"

"Oh" She is staring at my lips and it takes a while for her to process what I said. "Sure. I'll be right back"

She gets up in a hurry but almost bumps into this beautiful girl also with blonde hair. She is smaller than Brittany and wearing a yellow sun dress and a white cardigan, she has her blonde hair cascading down her shoulders. I wonder who that is, they obviously did their best to recruit the most beautiful girls around. She gives out a housewife feel, but as she gets closer to me I see a hard look on her hazel eyes. She has a frown on her face but gives a small smile to Britt when she explains she's just getting me some water. There's a sort of reverence in Brittany's way to address her and I try to figure out what are their places in this jigsaw.

I notice Karofsky's small nod as Quinn passes by and puts a hand on his shoulder as if asking if everything is okay.

For the first time since Brittany brought me here I hear Finn's groans in the back, he is whispering that his back hurts.

The girl walks over to me and stops where Brittany used to be, the light bulb above me keeps me from seeing anything but her silhouette.

"Hello, I assume you must be Santana. Brittany can't shut up talking about you. " I can see a hint of a smile, she gives a look to someone behind her and he drags me back a bit so I can see her face better now. She has the most elegant face, her define jaw is something I'd kill to have. She looks like the storybook princesses I used to read about as a child.

"That's correct." Her beauty is kind of haunting, her eyes betray her, it shows how broken she really is. At least, that's what I think.

"Well, then I have no quarrel with you. My name is Quinn Fabray and this is my squad."

This is their leader? Not that I think that Will Schuester is anything impressive, I guess that housewife look is nothing but a look. She's not broken, she's angry, I misread all of it.

In comes Brittany with a bottle in her hands, she trots close to us and she looks a nervous and tries to read both of our faces.

"Don't worry Brittany, I'm not doing anything to her. You know I admire her feisty personality and she's been trying to figure me out since I got in here. I think I'm going to let you keep her."

I frown harder and mouth "what?" to no one in particular. Brittany is bouncing upside down and thanking Quinn effusively. She hugs Quinn taking her by surprise. Quinn pats her back awkwardly while Brittany bear hugs her and looks at me with a questioning look.

"Don't look at me, lady, I've just met her."

Fabray gives me a sly smile and asks Britt to let her go. Brittany obeys immediately as she realizes she probably overstepped her boundaries. She stands next to me and helps me with the bottle of water, I thank her quietly and she kisses my cheek. I blush furiously and I give her my best "what the hell" look. You know it's not impressive when both Quinn and Britt laugh at my face. Who are this people? I become a bit fidgety.

"You'll have to get used to the fact that Brittany does not believe in personal space. You'll be tied to her when we free you from that chair. We figured out that since you can be dangerous and she insists in living you fully functional anyway, she should be the first to die if you rebel. From this day on, you and Britt will be attached to the hip."

"You mean literally?" My eyes get wider than I thought it would be possible with all this tiredness. Brittany looks at me like my tone hurts her. Why do I care though? I never care about the effect of the things I say on people."I mean that it won't be very pratical if we need to use the bathroom or something."

She laughs and shakes her head. "Even I knew that was not what she meant. We'll be cuffed together. I've seen you are left-handed and since I'm right-handed we can join my left to your right and we'll be stuck together" She's doing that thing when she's bouncy and bubbly like this is the best news ever. I do laugh, this girl is positively crazy, adorable kind of crazy. I'm not sure if I like this, if I like these people. I wanted to get back to New Directions, I'm not sure I see it happening anytime soon. I look at Brittany and she squeezes my shoulder. It comforts me and I have no idea why, I look down to my boots following the red spots on them.

"Now, Karofsky, you said you caught yours too?" Quinn is definitely not the adorable kind of crazy, she's the dangerous kind. She smirks at us and stares at Britt as if to say "enough".

"It's right in the back, ma'am, I made sure he went nowhere."

"That's lovely Dave, you did a great job. " She walks past me and in the direction of Finn's groans.

"So, Finn Hudson, have you been taking care of Rachel for me or do I have to cut your balls like I said I would?"


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you so soooo much for the reviews. I hope I can develop this story in a good way, I don't want to let you down.

To Rabbitsnipper, your reviews give me life. The reason why I haven't fully explained what is happening with the world it's because I want you to pick up the pieces from the informations the characters give you. Small bits here and there. I'm thinking about giving a bit of background on all of them.

As usual, please feel free to share your opinions on this, they are greatly appreciated. I'm very sorry for the amount of typos in my stories but I don't have a beta.

The title of this chapter comes from a lovely Foo Fighters song.

**Chapter 3 - Walking after you.**

"Tina!" Quinn yelled before Finn got a chance to answer her question.

"Yes, Quinn." I heard a girl's voice behind me.

"Help Brittany take Santana to the basement. Make sure both of them are tightly cuffed." Quinn's voice had a bit of bitterness at the end, like she wanted me to rebel and prove Brittany wrong. The tone was not missed by Brittany who sported a sour look on her face as she helped me up.

"I would never hurt you. Don't ask me why but it's something I've been sure since you took that bag off my face." I whisper and I only realize what I've promised when I stopped talking. This asian girl with purple streaks in her hair gets next to us and Brittany gives me a crooked smile and a nod. I figured she didn't want this girl to hear what I've just said.

"We are going to use those titanium cuffs we stole from Fort Knox. You'll have to saw Brittany's wrist to get away from here." Tina says with a smirk. Looks like everyone thinks I'm a bad idea. I hear Brittany's frustrated sigh and I smile.

"Who says anything about leaving? Besides if I wanted to leave, I'd take Britts with me. She seems like the only one around here that can put up a fight." I hear Brittany quiet laugh.

"Girl, you in danger." She mutters amused.

"WHAT? I bet I could finish in a minute and make a nacho out of you. I am CIA trained, okay?" She stops before me and puts her hands on her hips.

"Easy, easy. You won't need to go all ninja on me."

"In case you haven't noticed none of us finds this a good idea. Brittany always sees the good in people, but I've seen you before and I don't trust you."

"Good because I don't really trust you. All of you. I don't get what you do, why you are in the middle of nowhere? I don't understand a goddamn thing since I got inside that storage place. The only thing that's keeping me from going all Lima Heights is the fact that I got paired with the hottest chick I've ever met and that would never get stuck with a Lima Loser like me unless the world is this fucked up. So y'all better calm down Miss CIA because I'm not going anywhere until you handcuff this hottie to my wrist, I don't wants her to run away on me." I would be snapping my fingers at her if I didn't had my hands tied. Brittany was grinning widely beside me with an hint of excitement on her eyes.

Tina rolled her eyes. "You better put your money where your mouth is, Lopez." And proceeded to open a latch to an underground facility under the house.

"Counting on it." I look down nervously as I watch her go down some stairs. I begin to follow her but Brittany pulls me by the arm.

"Thank you." She says smiling at me like I'm her favourite person of the world.

"You are welcome. Thanks for trusting me. " I start again and she follows right behind me.

* * *

"Is this too tight?" Tina asks Brittany and she shakes her head.

"It's just perfect. Thank you, Tina." She adjusts the leather cuff. I learn that this titanium made cuffs have the leather so they don't hurt, because they are not supposed to leave marks, they are for restraining purposes only. Some sort of long confinement.

Tina locks my right wrist as well. It's too tight.

"Could you just loosen it up a bit?"

" must be reminded you are a prisoner as well."

"Tina, be nice." Brittany's tone is resolute. She glares Tina who grunts and adjusts it.

"Much better, thank you." I say flashing her my best smile.

"Not doing it for , Brittany, she's all yours. I sincerely hope you are right. It's not too late to shoot her foot or something." Oh so that's what Quinn was talking about when she said that Britts insisted on leaving me fully functional. Remind me of thanking her once again.

"Thanks Tina and please leave San's foot alone. I don't need someone dragging me down, it would make me lose my sneaky factor." She says it serious but I smile at her. I've just remembered that she thinks I'm as sneaky as her obese cat. Still don't know if it was a compliment or an insult.

"I'll get back to Quinn, maybe you could show Lopez around."

"That's the idea, see you later Tina." And she drags me to the other end of the room while Tina walks back using the hatch.

* * *

I see Brittany searching among the shelves full of tools and ammunitions and several types of guns. She reaches behind and touches the wall on the third shelf (that I wouldn't be able to reach because I'm not as tall as she) and the bit of wall to our right moves and opens a passage way.

"Cool." I whistle impressed.

Brittany just shrugs her shoulders and says "can't be too careful, you know?"

"You look fairly organized, we are just a bunch of amateurs next to you."

"Who are we?"

"New Directions." I say as we walk up a few flights of stairs, the back of my hand brushing against hers and making this heat waves climb up my arm and neck. I see her cat eyes searching when we reach a crosspath.

"Yeah, you are as lame as your name. I'll just show you our room and then we'll go back down to meet the other guys. Is it okay?" She says as she bites her lower lip. Like I could ever say no to that face.

"Yeah it's fine, is there anyway I can brush my teeth and freshen up and lose the red clothes?"

"You can use the bathroom, I've already found you a toothbrush" She smiles gently but…" But, I'm afraid you can't wear any other clothes, not so soon."

"Why? I can shower though, can't I?"

"Yes. We painted your clothes red so if you ran you didn't have camouflage friendly clothes. You were all dressed in black and we decided that it would be better to change that."

"I'm not going anywhere, Britts." I grab her cheek with my free hand, staring deep into her eyes.

"I really hope you won't. I really like you." Her voice is so small that even if I'm this close to her I have to strain to hear it. "It's Quinn's orders, you'll have to wear something funky until we can fully trust you."

"I'm okay with that. Now, move along. Which turn do I take?" I say reassuring her that I don't mind wearing blood red stain clothes. It's not like I'm going to try out for a beauty pageant anytime soon.

"Left and our room is just down the hall."

Our room, I like the sound of that when she says it. We stop by the door and I watch her pull a key from her pocket, I also take in the rest of the hall. The house is big, an old colonial house. It must have looked lovely in the old days. Decay was kind of taking it's toll but you could see where they reinforced security.

"Ta-dah" Brittany stretches her arms taking mine as well. "Sorry, it'll take a bit of time until I get used to this."

"Same here." I look around the room is really simple. A stuffed duck on the nightstand catches my eye. I also see that there's only one than enough for the both of us, but I'm not used to share a bed. I usually sleep on the floor if I have to. "I've never shared a bed before."

"Sorry, it was the only available bed, besides we will be tied to each other, it's only practical, I didn't mean to cross boundaries or anything." She rambles on about it, I let her continue to make excuses for something that is obviously not her fault until I can't keep the grin in any longer.

"Relax, Britts. We'll find a way to work it out. You'll just have to get out of bed anytime I have to pee in the middle of the night."

"That's okay, I sleep walk anyway." I laugh and she smiles at me. Then, I register.

"Sleep walk?"

"Only when I'm really really nervous about something. Like, last night, because I knew I'd get to talk to you for the first time." She looks down and I pull her to sit on the bed with me.

"What's with the duck?"

"Oh, duckie is just a reminder of my family. It reminds me of my little brother and sister. They are twins and 10 years younger than me."

"Where are they?"

"Well long story short, they must be in Brazil."

"Brazil? But that's so far away." I instantly remember when Sister Beiste made us carve a world map on our dinning table at the orphanage. She said it would help us have a notion of our positioning in the world, now that all the communications were off.

"Well, apparently they are exploring their natural resources a lot better than us. When I was 16 and my little brothers were 6, my parents bought a trip on a boat that was going there. They wanted to start from a clean slate and they wanted to have my brother and sister to grow up in a country with a future. Unlike ours. "

"That doesn't explain why you are still here? I can't believe they left you behind!" My anger was flaring up, who leaves their 16 year old daughter alone in this god forsaken land when you are moving to another country to run away from that."

"They didn't abandone me. They didn't have money to afford another ticket, they wasted their last savings on getting those places in the boat. Besides I wasn't a child anymore, I could take care of myself."

"I really think that there's no excuse…"

"Look at it this way," She cuts me off trying to make me drop the subject "if I went with them, I would have never met you. Now that would be the saddest of all sad things."

"I'll never get what charming things you saw in me. I'm a loud, annoying brat." I feel the impulse to lay back but I don't want to mess the bed clothes.

"I saw a lot of great things like -"I hold a hand up and I cut her short, I'll have time to figure out more about it soon.

"We should get to meet your friends before I fall asleep here and never wake up." I say to break the mood, I can't handle all these sweetness when I swear I smell like roadkill. "I don't even know what time is it."

"Oh, I guess you are right. Let's freshen up and go downstairs." She sounds a bit disappointed but her stomach rumbles." I think my stomach agrees with you. I think it's dinner time"

"You must be starving, let's go." I get up and she follows my example.

I try to clean up the best I can, I need a shower but I don't dare to take that step yet. She'd have to see me naked and, well, I'm shy like that.

Brittany takes me down the stairs and when we are about to get inside the main hall she tangles her fingers with mine. I instantly feel impossibly hot and flushed.

"Is this okay?" She asks quietly before we cross the threshold. Inside I see people laughing and dancing. Tina is dancing with another asian dude, two boys dressed like school boys are singing a tune I've never heard while sitting in the table. This beautiful black girl is laughing at some story this goofy-smile blond boy is telling her. Karofsky and Quinn are not here yet, nor is Finn. I swallow hard and try to ignore how the warmth of Brittany's palm is affecting me. This bunch doesn't look so scary after all.

"It's perfect."


	4. Chapter 4

****Thank you so much for your reviews and follows. I hope I can keep you interested and not let you down.

Keep telling me your thoughts, they do make my days.

**Chapter 4 - The World is a Small Place**

I sat at the table with Brittany by my side. We were opposite of Blaine and Kurt (the two singing boys) and Sam (the blonde boy with girl lips) offered to make us some eggs. Brittany asked them all how the rest of the mission went. They summed it up and I had a weird feeling at my stomach to hear that they chased my friends until they were out of sight. Before I had a chance to think it through a blurted.

"Did you hurt them?"

Until now, I didn't stop to think that things could have been serious. I knew they didn't hurt me or Finn, well they did mess Finn up, but only now I come to think that we had a privileged treatment because we were their main targets. The others might not have such a chance.

The Asian boy uttered a few words in a language that I couldn't understand and didn't dare to label it without sounding ignorant. Tina translated it for us.

"Mike says that they were all without harm except the smelly boy who fought back and he had to bust his lip to get him running as well. He says he was trying to save you. Mike says he won't rest until he finds you." Oh Puck, my long lost brother. My heart hurts and I have to look down, I decide to cover it up with the sassy act.

"Mike? That's his real name?" My eyebrow raises as I look at Tina in the eye.

"We all named him Mike, no one but Tina knows his real name. She was his liason at CIA when he came here from Korea." Mercedes (the black girl) explains since Tina is obviously fuming too much to form a coherent answer.

"Be nice, Santana." Brittany whispers, passing her thumb over the knuckles of my right hand, it soothes me immediately. I feel like a trained dog around her. I'm not sure if I like it but it's not like I can resist it. "You okay? I know they are your friends even if you always pretend that you don't really care"

"I'm fine, Britts, thanks for asking." Stop looking into my soul, please. "I'm happy to know they aren't hurt. I'm here, I'm with you. What else could a girl want?" I say this quietly and can't help but blush as I say it. When did I become so lame?

"Look at her, she's whipped already." Sam smiles kindly as he puts a plate of eggs and bacon before us and Mercedes fills two cups of water. We instantly reach for both our cutlery without remembering that we were cuffed together. It results on both of her hands reaching the length of the chain and stiffening mid-air. Everybody laughs as both of us blush.

"Sorry, I forgot."

"So do I, we'll need to get used to this."

"I'm a bit of a savage anyway, Britt. Let me just use the knife to cut the bacon and I'll eat with my left."

"Okay." She whispers quietly and waits until I finish cutting and put my hand between our plates. "It's all yours, m'lady."

The smile she gives me when I start eating earns a very loud "awwwww" from everybody and I give them all a glare.

"You sure are hungry, child!" Mercedes says amused.

"I did spend a two days without touching food and God knows how long as it been since I touched bacon. Rachel, my friend, she's vegan and she had a fit everytime she smelled bacon. Come to think of it, she said it reminded her of someone. Someone she really cared about but died or something. Or got lost, I never got to ask her because Puck always offered her a piece of his figurative bacon before anything got serious enough to ask." I raise my eyes from my plate and I catch a knowing look being bounced around every face. I don't get it, I look at Brittany and she doesn't either. She shrugs and continues to eat like a lady, unlike me.

"You look like an ogre eating. It's making me sick, c'mon Mike. Let's go to bed" Tina says as she takes Mike out of the room with her.

"Well, like an ogre I've got many layers." I say nonchalant making everybody laugh. I like them, they are kind. I miss Puck though and Rachel…and Emma. She took care of me when I first joined New Directions, I was having a really bad fever and waiting to curl up and die. I probably would have without her. I just keep having this feeling I haven't seen the last of them. By the way Quinn approached Finn I knew none of us was who she was looking for. She did mention Rachel. My thoughts are interrupted by Brittany but I didn't get what she said.

"Sorry what?"

"I said, you are like an onion then." I look at her confused and then I remember the lame layer joke.

"You've heard the same story, about an Ogre named Shrek" I ask her.

"Yes, my parents told us there was once a movie with that name and told us the story." She smiled her brightest smile and I'm enchanted.

"I wish we could watch movies." Kurt sighs and leans his head on Blaine's shoulder.

"Once we found shelter in a house with an old VCR, it was probably not occupied since the 1980's and spend a week watching black and white movies until our portable battery was spent." Blaine explained.

"We only had radio and cd players on the orphanage I was in, that's probably why I love music so much." I say and Brittany's hand playing with mine. I think this was the best idea Quinn has ever had.

We hear a sound coming from a back door and I immediately tense up. Brittany's soothing thumb relaxes me. Not only I'm a dog but I'm a well trained one.

I see Finn entering the kitchen, limping lightly. He had a busted eye brow but other than that he's fine. He's not chained. That's strange.

"Hey guys!" He waves and everybody raises to meet him. They hug him in turns and give him tons of kisses and pats in the back.

He is coming back home.

"Finn, brother, it's been too long." Kurt says with almost tears in his eyes.

"I know, Kurt, I know. How is Mr. Hummel?"

"He misses you dearly."

I have the most confused look in my face, I look at Brittany to shed some light on this but she also has her eyebrows furrowed.

After him, comes Karofski. He supports the same confused look as both of us. He walks around the hugging crowd and picks up a chair to sit next to us. He takes his red berret and puts it on the chair.

"He used to be one of them." He whispers to us as we can't take the eyes of the "all you need is love" show in front of us. "He went undercover into the New Directions because he owed his life to Quinn. That was his pay, his mission. To look over this Rachel chick." He steals my cup to drink the rest of my water and all I manage to say is a weak "hey" in protest.

"What's so special about her?" Britt asks quietly.

"I have no idea. After you guys left, Quinn excused me to get a shower and get ready for dinner. She'll be here soon."

"He was lying all this time." I say stunned."He's damn good at it. Always playing the hero, always hovering over Rachel like she was all he cared about. Always playing the good boy, the good friend. That son of a bitch. I never liked him but I would never expect this of a giant slug of a man."

"Guess I'm smarter than you made me out to be, Santana." Finn throws me a smug look. "And here you are, falling like a mouse in a trap. Who is laughing now, Santana?" he dances his shackle free wrists in the air. "Who is a prisoner now, Santana?"

"Glad to know you haven't forget my name with all that head banging." I fake yawn, as if to tell him how much I did not care for what he was telling. I feel Brittany looking at me from the corner her eye, expecting me to get angry. Not happening though.

"It was all a play, Lopez. We had this rendezvous planned for months. I played Will so he took everybody on the mission. I made sure you tripped so we could catch you. I…"

"Shut up, Finn." Quinn appears out of nowhere in the opposite door of the kitchen, the one that gives way to the hall where the stairways end. "Don't act like I didn't have to explain a hundred times how to do every little thing."

"Yes ma'am" He instantly looks down like a chastised dog. I like Quinn, I like her very much.

"You said something about Rachel missing someone who liked bacon, Santana?" She turns her hazel gaze to me with a playful smirk on her face.

"Yes." I look straight into her eyes, I want her to know that even if I respect her I'm not afraid of anyone. Except Karofski's large paws but he looks peaceful enough staring back and forth between our faces. He looks kind of adorable in his confusion.

"Well, that will be me." I'm sure my jaw falls and the three of us tilt our heads like confused puppies at her. This earns us an honest laugh from her. She pulls a chair and sits at the head of the table, she leans her head on her fist and says playfully.

"C'mon rookies, let me tell you a story."


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you, once again, for your reviews and follows and favorites.

I would like to thank my dear Marjorie, who brainstormed with me, so I could bring you a worthy Quinn story. She's my Faberry yoda without who this would not be possible.

The title comes from Mumford and Son's Little Lion Man.

**Chapter 5 – I really fucked it up this time, didn't I, my dear? - part I**

I feel Brittany become restless as we expect Quinn to start her story. Kurt and Blaine had taken our plates to the sink while Kurt prepares something for Karofski to eat, I'm guessing everybody knows this story but him and Britts. They are just moving to dissipate the tension that suddenly filled the room. Sam and Mercedes excuse themselves and so does Finn. He doesn't enjoy bragging all that much when Quinn is around.

I take a moment to appreciate how lovely Quinn looks, her eyes are set in some past where she was happy, when she was safe. I notice her eyes begin to tear up and she shakes her head, trying to shake the memories out with it. I'm guessing she's taking her time to put her thoughts in order and to find the right angle to tell us her story.

In the meanwhile, Brittany decides to turn her back on me so she can face Quinn. She tucks one leg under her which only makes our height difference even more obvious but seems uncertain of where to put her arms, she turns and twists and it's starting to make me anxious and as stressed as she looks. She keeps moving around and it's obvious she isn't comfortable enough and it has nothing to do with the chair.

"Hey!" I whisper softly into her back.

She stops moving and looks over her shoulder. "Hey."

"What's wrong?" I don't know why I'm whispering, Quinn can obviously hear a pin drop in the far end of the house, she looks like she's constantly alert even with tearful eyes.

"Although, Brittany is fairly new, she entered our gang about the same time I sent Finn to infiltrate the New Directions, she's like a sister to me. A very unusual sister." Quinn smiles softly. "I think it's freaking her out to see me tearing up. I'm sure you can feel it hasn't happen often around here."

"That's exactly it. You just look so sad, it's making my heart hurt." Brittany says in a small voice, like she's afraid to admit it.

Before I can stop myself, I reach over her with my shackled wrist and twist it around her. My right arm is now over her right shoulder. Her left hand is tangled with my right and I encourage her to lean her back on me. She's warm and fits the back of her head on my shoulder. She asks Karofski if she can put her feet on his lap. He just pats his knees and continues to eat.

She spreads herself on us like she's in her own human couch. I can smell a hint of strawberries in her hair and I wonder how did they manage to have scented shampoo around here. She lets out a happy sigh and I have to resist an urge to kiss her on the top of her head. For someone who would shy away from physical contact all her life, I just can't seem to get enough of it when it comes to her.

"It seems like you have domesticated the little beast, Brittany. I' m sorry I've ever doubted your charm." Quinn has been watching us with a raised eyebrow.

"I told everybody that San was not so bad" Brittany says smugly "I told you that she was smart and pretty. She would fit right in."

"I know where she'll fit right in." Karofski snorts and my eyes bug out, did he just mean what I think he did. A smile starts pulling at the corners of Quinn's mouth but she keeps her poise.

"I'm pretty sure the word you used was "hot"." Kurt says over his shoulder at the sink.

Even though I usually hate when people talk about me like I'm not in the room, I'm too dumbfounded to say anything. Besides, seeing Brittany blush like this is surely worth it.

"I think she said something about her "target" having a body to die for. Didn't she, Dave?" Blaine asks amused while holding a teacup for him and one for Quinn. The fact that she thanked him was not lost on me.

"Remenber when Santana, Puck and Finn had to go on a raid together and three of us decided to meet up at the location before they got there the next day had go follow and she couldn't stop gushing over how good a shirt suited santana's set of ..."

I crack laughing out loud because the blush is now reaching Brittany's eartips.

"HeyHeyHeyHey! That's enough, David! I think I'm ready to start now." Quinn shouts above all the laughing and everyone is suddenly very serious and very quiet.

She speaks with her sweet low voice sounding like a professor in a lecture.

"I realize the three of you have very peculiar backgrounds. Santana in her Lima orphanage, Brittany in her California hippie community and Dave's ultrareligious cult in the middle of Alaska. You lived quite removed from the cities and what was left of civilization after everything went downhill.

When the communications went down, there was obvious chaos. There had been a few scientists that defended that some new data had been registered that sun storms had increased intensity. It messed with the earth's electromagnetic field and it made it impossible to keep electronics functional. It was like the world started reversing all the great things we discovered during the 19th and 20th century, to be exact, after the invention of electricity. Some more basic forms of electricity kept being functional, like batteries and generators but that's about it. Computers where the core of existence and suddenly they were just objects wasting space ."

Brittany spells under her breath "com-pu-ters" like she has never heard the word. I look down at her and get distracted imagining a tiny Brittany in a hippie community missing nothing of what the hi-tech world had to offer. I smile silently and focus back on Quinn.

"I'm taking my time to explain this to you because it's crucial for you to understand how cut of everybody was from even the nearest city. I know that you might not really notice it since you are younger than me. Not to mention that attempts to bring back electronic devices were made for many, many years in the major cities before hunger got in the way of science."

"Yeah, this is the world I've always knew. You can't miss something you've never seen. The ladies at the orphanage used tell us stories of how the world used to be, how it was to have computers and send spaceships to the moon. I've read books about it, though. I've dreamed about it. Specially, since I've been on my one." Santana said, thankful to find out it was not all just in her head.

"Well, all I knew was the world was in sin and needed mending. The Lord sent us a message to mend our ways by taking us all the comfortable things we invented." Dave said, quietly and it earned him a shoulder squeeze from Kurt who sat on the balcony behind us.

"I spent my days by the beach singing Kumbaya and dancing and planting our garden with the things we needed to eat. Life was really simple when I was younger." I feel the sadness in Brittany's voice without needing to see her face.

"Things started getting really crazy when I was about 16, I lived in New York and there was food shortage already. My parents were adamant about staying in the city, so it was never an option to try some place better to live. My dad decided to start trading goods, it's amazing how, if people are enough on edge, much money you can make out of vacant promises and castles in the air. My dad became a crook of the worst kind, he sold hope to hopeless people. We lived better than most people and, back in the day, I was young and stupid and never really cared where the money came from. One day, I was walking by Times Square, or what was left of it, and I heard the most beautiful voice. The winter was at its peak we were near Christmas and there she was, singing. She didn't have much clothes on her, she was shivering but her voice didn't waver.

I stopped to hear her when no one else did. I thought about giving her money but it would never be enough. I just couldn't leave her there so I approached her when the song ended."

Quinn wipes a few tears and sniffles a bit.

"She didn't even let me speak." Quinn chuckles. "She went on and on and on about how much she loved old musicals and how she wanted to be a singer when the world order got back to normal. How it was her rendition of a song from Wicked called Defying Gravity and proceeded to explain the plot of said musical and was appalled that I had never heard of it. She pointed to one of the old posters that where left in the buildings, all that was left was bits of green paper and the silhouette of black witch hat. I'm sure I looked at her like she was the craziest person I've ever met but she kept going. When she stopped to breathe, I finally managed to ask her if she was okay, if she needed money. She said she was fine, she was just singing to broadcast her talent to more people but I knew that she was way too thin to be healthy so I invited her to dinner.

My parents loved her initially; they remembered all the old things she kept referring to. I was stupidly happy to be around her, there was never a dull moment around Rachel. I asked her to sing to me at my room. When it approached curfew hour she excused herself to leave and I took her to the door. She rambled about how everything had been wonderful and splendid and glamorous and fascinating -"

"That does sounds like Rachel." I whisper before I can help myself. My eyes snap back at Quinn but she is still in her dreamy state and does not order my head to be cut off.

"- and before I know it I'm kissing her in my porch and promising her I'll go see her tomorrow after my private classes at the same spot the next day.

We kept meeting for about two months and I was madly in love. Foolishly thinking that nothing could go wrong. My dad, however, was not of the same opinion. He noticed how close we were. At the same time, his business started going wrong and he decided to take it out on us. He caught us kissing one day and threw Rachel out the door in the middle of that years worst blizzard. He locked the door and kept the key and no matter how much I tried to get out I had no way. I stayed watching her walk through the snow, while my dad kept shouting how inappropriate it all was and my mom threw on me the old catholic guilt. They made me promise I'd never look for her again and for a while I convinced myself she'd be better off without me anyway.

But, everything in my life started falling apart. I noticed even in the smaller things that nothing made sense without her. That night was the beginning of the storm that hit my family in every front. We all had it coming. I discovered that more and more people started showing up on our doorstep to collect my father's promises and when they started breaking windows and making death threats I was almost glad Rachel had gone out of my life as fast as she walked in.

In the meanwhile, I met Sam Evans… He was nice and he treated me so well. He saved me from getting beaten up by someone who recognized me as my father's daughter. He took me to a bar and we started drinking, I was so lost and so heartbroken. Instead of closing, the hole Rachel left in my heart seemed to get bigger with time. We ended up too drunk to think it through and we had sex. In the next day everything felt wrong, he was not who I wanted to wake up next to so I broke down crying, sobbing like I had not done since I lost Rachel. I ended up telling him all about it, telling my story with Rachel without having to tone it down, to hide something. It was so scary and liberating and I ended up realizing that I was not living. I was stuck in that blizzard for the longest time.

He was the best, he encouraged me to go find her, to talk to her. I'm sure you can imagine him consoling me half-naked in his kitchen."

Everybody chuckles and I hear Kurt's sniffles. Look around him but it's Brittany who elucidates me.

"That's such a Sam thing to do. You'll see when you know him better, San, I doubt you'll meet a better friend than him. " My thoughts go out to Puck but I say nothing. I'm sure I'll have time to introduce Brittany to him.

"In the next day, I went to the same spot where I had found her and there she was. I thought she was going to reject me, to push me away. I sure deserved it but no. She stopped mid-song and threw herself in my arms. She said she went there every day hoping I'd come around. That she missed me dearly. I remember thinking I'd never let her go again. That this time around I'd fight for her."

Quinn looks down and fixes her gaze on the table and does not raise it until she finishes telling her story. By now, she doesn't bother stopping the tears from falling from her face.

"But a couple of months later I started feeling sick in the mornings. We started living together at her parents' house after that and they noticed I wasn't alright. They took me to a doctor but thank god I entered alone. The man told me what I was experiencing was not some sort of fever but that I was pregnant. Pregnant. Me. It all sounded so strange, I remembered that night with Sam and I cursed myself for ruining everything again.

Everything was getting more and more insane, there was no way I could raise a children with Rachel, there's no way I could explain how I got pregnant without ruining my relationship with her. It seemed like all I could do to her is mess her life further than it was. So I decided to bail once again.

I got home and shouted absurd things to her, I told her that I was pregnant and in love with someone else. That I was going to move to New Jersey and raise the child with him, have a normal life. Away from her and all the sin I surrounded myself since she came into my life. I echoed the words my parents told me that day in December and added new hurtful things that give me a sour taste in the mouth just to remember. I was hideous and disgusting but there was nothing that I wanted more in the world that for her to be happy. That meant being without me.

I've managed to turn the love of the one person I've ever loved into hate but before she could say anything or do anything but crying I was already out the door. Sam was nothing but supportive and picked me up a few blocks from Rachel's house. She chased me until the car and I closed the door on her face and had to yell for Sam to drive out of there. I watched her disappear through the review mirror and when it was safe I broke out and cried for the longest time."

When she stopped everybody had tears on their eyes and even my heart was clenching. It didn't helped that Brittany was sobbing against me.

When I could feel Britt calming down, I found my voice to ask.

"That does not explain why Rachel thinks you are dead." I blurt being the class act that I am.


	6. Chapter 6

**I felt the all the Faberry was necessary so you could get why our heroins got together. here's the second part of Quinn's story. I hope you enjoy.**

**Chapter 6 - I really fucked it up this time, didn't I, my dear? – part II**

"Exactly why did you say those things to her, Quinn?" Brittany asked, she didn't get it. Of course, she didn't get it. It would be just an un-Brittany thing to do to push people away. I looked up to Quinn and gave her an understanding nod.

"Because she didn't want Rachel to find her, to keep her life on hold until Quinn got everything sorted out. She pushed her away to stop her from hurting down the line."

"But, she hurt her anyway. I think if she just told –"

"Brittany, baby, I'll talk this over with you later. Let Quinn finish her story, okay?" I think she was caught off guard with me calling her baby, which was my intention in the first place. She sank her head further into me and whispered a quiet "okay".

"So, Sam and I fled to New Jersey where my family used to have a house. We found the place half-trashed and there were riots over every other corner. We managed to hold on for enough months until my baby was born. In the meanwhile, we met a few nice people in the neighbourhood. We shared the house with them and they shared their food. Chaos was further installed in the surroundings of New York than on the city itself. Most people left for the inner states. We decided to do it as well, we knew Sam's parents where living in California and that's where we were headed.

We left the city one day after I sent a letter to Rachel saying that I loved her more than anyone else in the world and that we were going to Syracuse where Sam had relatives. We decided that it was best for the baby to be raised for a proper family, Sam's aunt and uncle had no babies and tried for many years to have one. It seemed like it was our baby girls best shot of survival.

When we got there they received us, three, like family. I spend two months very comfortable, but I knew I had to leave soon. I was already to attached to the baby. They named her Alice and she did look like a Alice." Suddenly Quinn's voice breaks and her breath catches. She's crying freely now.

"We decided to leave on one very bright morning, to keep to our initial route. I just wanted to put as many miles as possible as I left yet another person I loved behind. We were already crossing the borders of California when we found out a nuclear power central had exploded and took half the state out of the map. As I went to the authorities to confirm what I knew in my heart to be true I saw it. The place where Sam's relatives lived had been wiped out the face of the earth as well. I had such a breakdown. I had to be carried out of the office by two strong military men because I couldn't stop kicking. My life was so over. Sam came to get me and he was equally devastated. It took me a long time to start eating/living again. I was a robot and I decided that if I was going to keep going it would be on my terms. I met Tina and Mike first, as soon as we set foot on San Francisco, in a bar. Things looked a lot more normal in the west than in the east. I had no hope in me but, for Sam, all the signals that life could get a little better were enough to get his good spirit to reach the surface. We became brothers in arms more than former lovers or simple friends. We were almost one, I was the moon and he was the sun in our enterprise. He was just as alone in this world as I was. He learned as we reached his parents house in San Fran that they had died in a powerful earthquake that took half the city with it. His house was crushed in four parts. Like a giant doll house, you could see the inner parts of the farther rooms but a huge crack on the soil beneath it had sucked the rest of the house with them.

He was barely functional after that. Mike and Tina though were very pro-active. They had a plan to form a militia and they defended that sooner than later it would be every man for himself. My hardened heart agreed and I pulled Sam up like he had a few months pulled me through my shit.

We were four now and what I lacked in military experience I compensated on stubbornness. I'm a natural born leader. I directed us safely from one destination to another, I even found a pink dye bottle and dyed my hair pink."

"That's not very intimidated" I chuckle trying to imagine Quinn with pink hair. "I think this perfect housewife look you support now is far more impressive. Those cardigans, man, they have something that speaks "I will end you"" I stop kidding when I don't see her trademark smirk beginning to appear in her face. "Ok, I've stopped, please continue." She gives me her death glare with those beautiful hazel eyes. "Your Highness, I shall not dare to interrupt you again on the course of your tale." She snaps out of it and looks at Britt smiling and I let go a breath I didn't even know I was holding.

"On our way here we met Mercedes in a dinner in San Diego and in the outskirts of Los Angeles we saved Blaine and Kurt from some deranged cult members. We found Finn barefoot crossing the border of Arizona, Tina wanted to shoot him because she thought he was slowing us behind but I stopped her"

"When did you decide to spy on us, Quinn?" I have to ask, that's how I got here in the first place.

"I saw Rachel's poster when we started reaching Las Vegas. I saw that she was going to perform and by the way the poster was made I was sure she was glueing it to the walls herself. That gold star detail gave it away."

"OH THAT DAMN SHOW!" I grunt."New Directions has a flair for the theatrics. They wanted to call it the "End of the World concert". It was a medley of Rachel's favourite show tunes. I had to sing America from this East Side Tale."

"West Side Story" Quinn corrected me "Rachel always said that role was to ethnic for her to play."

"Whatever. I liked the song and I rocked it. But it felt very short of what Rachel and Will hoped for…wait a minute?! That's when Rachel met Finn in the backstage" I huff at the word. It was hardly a backstage since they were performing at a public square next to what used to be Cesar's Palace. She said something about a Celine Dion singing in it once upon a time. I had no idea. "I said, what the hell? At least if I die, I'll die singing with this lunatic. It was one of the best times of these last four years."

"Before Finn could get back safely to us, we - Blaine and I - had some unfinished business, so we organized a trip back to California. We brought a lot of things we needed and found this house. On our way. we found Dave."

"We met Karofsky also half-naked when we crossed the Mojave desert. The poor thing seemed to be running for years" Blaine says and Kurt brings a hand to his heart has he speaks, like it hurts his heart to remember it.

"I had been hitchhiking, running, being chased by wolves and bears and mountain lions. I was running for my life and I didn't know how to stop. I thought I'd never be safe again until I found these guys." Karofsky looks thankful to Quinn. "Quinn and Britt helped me heal my wounds and Kurt's food got me to be this size."We all chuckle as he gestures to his love handles.

"- and we also met Brittany in her lovely remaining hippie community with less clothes than society requires." Quinn says with the biggest grinn I'd seen on her all night. I giggle hard because I just imagined Brittany as some sort of Tarzan girl."

"What? I like to feel free okay, clothes make me feel trapped. I'm a unicorn, I need to let my rainbows free." Brittany says nonchalantly.

"We had to beg Brittany to keep her rainbows out of the public eye for months" Blaine says amused.

Quinn is wiping the last of her tears and gives us a throaty chuckle. That frees the air of it's remaining tension.

"Yes and when finally got to report to me in some dark Vegas alley, saying that Rachel and him clicked I made him join you guys. I made sure others had their eyes on the rest of you and the rest is history."

"Oh – KAY!" Kurt clasps his hands. "This was intense. Blaine, let's go upstairs."

"Yeah, Karofsky you staying?"

"Nope, coming right up." Karofski gets up and gives Brittany a kiss in her forehead. He shakes my hand softly. "See you tomorrow, 'Tana."I notice how all give Quinn a mini-bow when they pass next to her, she responds with a tiny nod.

"See you guys." I wave weakly as my hand is getting numb from it's position.

"I think we should also follow their example." Quinn turns and nods to us and goes to in a way that I can only imagine it directs to the door Karofsky and Finn got in.

"Where does she sleep?" I ask, frowning.

"Outside."

"In the grass?"

"Yeah, sometimes, I went and slept outside with her. The fresh air does me good."

"How about the bugs?" I groan. Who wants to sleep outside when there's a perfectly good bed upstairs?

"San, you forget where I come from. Bugs are part of nature, they are our brothers just trying to coexist and live their life peacefully as we want to live ours."

"Oh you can't possibly believe that! If I slept outside I'd have bites all over me."

"Maybe you are too sweet for our bug friends resist. I don't really blame them." She says as she stretches like a cat in her chair. I stretch as well because what else can I do when she makes my arm go impossibly up. Her hair is in a messier bun that it was since she has been leaning against me and I'm a bit speechless with how beautiful she looks anyway. I also notice her shirt has hole over her shoulder blade and I can see exactly how white and dreamy her skin is. I feel like I'll never be able to speak again.

"Let's go to bed."

"Hum-hum." I manage to mutter as she gets up and grabs my hand. It's going to be a long night.


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you for your reviews. I hope I manage to keep this fic interesting and not very confusing. Keep giving me your opinions, you do make my day.

Diana, I'm glad you like hippie!Britt, you can imagine how much fun I have writing her like this.

Yes, dearest Guest, you got everything right:)

BetTheDuckisInTheHat, I'm happy you are liking this. You have my favorite stories on your favorites so it's actually an honour to know I'm making this enjoyable.

The title of this chapter comes from Never Let Me Go by Florence and the Machine.

**Chapter 7 - I found a place to rest my head.**

"I can't lie on a bed like this." I say as we reach Brittany's room and I look down my dusty, red stained pants. I must look disgusting.

"It's just dust, silly, I'm not allergic like Kurt."

"It just doesn't feel right, your bed looks clean and comfy and I feel like a country side road." I whine keeping my arm stretched but not moving so she can't lay down as she so looks like she wants to.

"San, I need to sleep." She yawns and pouts. I must resist "the" pout.

"Please a quick shower, even if cold would do wonders to me. Maybe some fresh clothes" I have to try.

"You know I can't do that. You must keep those with the paint. But you can take your pants off. " I raise my eyebrow but she only shrugs. "What? You heard them, nudity is not an issue and, if they feel so uncomfortable, you should take them out. We'll just keep your shirt on."

Brittany finally looks convinced that I'm not laying down anytime soon and shows me the way to the bathroom.

"Don't look." I point my finger directly to the point of her nose. "Turn around"

"But San…" She shakes her head trying to say it's not a big deal.

"Turn around woman."

"You are so…" She huffs frustrated as she turns around and allows me to undress behind her.

I get in the bathtub as she sits on the floor with her head looking at the door. "I'm looking at the door, you are not even on my spherical vision."

"Don't you mean, peripherical?" I try to correct as I try to wash myself and scrub the dirt off as fast as I can.

"No, silly. Spherical, the eye is like a sphere. I can look everywhere and I'm choosing not to look at you because you have body issues."

"Thank you."

She leans her head against the wall as connected hands are resting on the tub.

"Do you…" She starts and trails off. "I think…" she starts more intently and stops again. "I'm not sure." Brittany squints her eyes and moves her free hand as I wash my hair. "Do you hate me for taking you from your friends?"

"What?" I say rinsing the last piece of shampoo out of my eyes and suddenly wondering if I've grown deaf as well.

"I said…Do you hate me for –" She repeats a little lower instead of raising her voice but the beginning of the sentence was enough for me to be sure she said what I thought she did.

"Britt… I… How do I say this?" I've never been the best person with words, well with words that are not insulting in anyway.

"This day has been long and such a rollercoaster. I can't even absorb everything properly. I don't know what to think."

Even if I'm looking at her profile I can see that pout forming. "That doesn't mean you are not the most fascinating person I've met in years."

I can see her eyes widen and I can see her beginning to turn her head towards me so I snap our joined hands into her face making mine land over her eyes.

"OW" She whines.

"I said "Do not look""

"But you said you liked me?"

"So?"

"So? I can't look at someone I like and that likes me too?"

"Not when they are soaked wet in a bathtub."

"But that's exactly why I want to look at you!" She smirks and tries to look over my hand.

"Not yet, you dirty unicorn. I'm not that easy. You think just because you chained me to you that you get a free pass to this wonderland. You gonna have to work for it."

"I was just doing what that poet said."

"What did he said?"

"If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it. Okay, it's a shackle but it's like a bigger stronger ring which means I like you even more."

"What poet did exactly say that?"

"Beyoncé."

"Never heard of him."

"Yeah. My mom used to sing it to me and my sister as a cautionary tale."

"Oh." I'm sure I don't want to argue with Brittany. "Well, do you mind closing your eyes so I can get out of here. I think even my boobs are freezing."

She laughs loudly. "I can think of a way of warming –" I cut her off.

"The nerve of this girl and people tell ME I'm a pervert."

"I know you are. I saw you checking out my ass when we came up the stairs."

"I DID NOT."

"Yeah you did, but it's okay. Unlike you, I have no problems with that. Are you decent?" She huffs impatient.

"Yes." I look at my figure. I'm wearing my t-shirt and some clean underwear Brittany loaned me and I look ridiculous.

"Good, I've decided I want a bath too. But you can look all you want, I don't mind it."

And just like that, I only have time to close my eyes and lean against the wall finding the ceiling suddenly very interesting. I can hear her giggle at my side.

"You are the silliest person ever, Santana."

"Did you follow me and like paid attention to the fact that I like girls?"

"You don't like anyone, so it was not a matter of paying attention. I was just hoping you did." She says with her voice a bit shaky because of the contrast of the cold water and her warm skin.

"Well, now that you know for a fact that I like girls and find you immensely attractive, don't you feel inclined to have some care when dealing with me. Seeing as I'm chained to you and thus being closer to you than I ever was with any human being."

"San, you use too many words." She whined. When I sighed and was thinking of a simple way of saying it "I kidnapped you because I couldn't bear to stay away from you any longer. If I stayed and watched you from distance without, at least, trying to get you to know me I think I'd just shrink like a flower that grows in the shadow that sees the daylight but never gets touched by the sunlight."

And with that she shut me up but she continued like she was saying the most obvious thing in the world.

"I'm not expecting you to understand. Everybody said I was crazy, that you would turn on me. That there was no way you would find me any less than a creepy person because nobody thinks the way I do. I didn't mean to keep you from your friends, I just wanted you for myself." She says quietly and if there was any other noise around the house I don't think I'd listen to it.

"Britt. I think you have a completely wrong idea of me, I will only disappoint you." I close my eyes on that thought. "But I don't find you creepy and believe it or not, I'm glad you kidnapped me."

I see her wiping a tear out of the corner of her eye and laughing a bit. "Most of everything, for the bits and pieces I've gathered over this rollercoaster ride, I'm really glad I got to meet you." I look at her and she is smiling bashfully and looking at me with those puppy blue eyes. I smile back at her and kiss her cheek. She blushes and it's the cutest thing ever.

"Get out of there woman, before you turn into a mermaid."

When we finally lie in bed, she hugs me and I try to ignore that Britt's notion of decency means walking around in her underwear.

"I'm so happy you are here."

"I know Britt, I'm happy too. "

I'm staring at the ceiling trying not to think she's almost naked and that I don't have pants on me. I stay lying awake for the longest time. I grow a bit restless trying to find a position to fall asleep but when I lie on my side and Brittany stirs

"Where did you go?" At least that's what I think that's the translation to whatever she said in a sleepy tone.

"Nowhere, I've just turned."

"It's cold, c'mere." I think we are - what do people call it? - spooning and her warmth has more power over me than any sedative. Before I notice I'm drifting into sleep with a comtempt hum leaving my lips.


	8. Chapter 8

Thank you so much for your reviews. I'm updating so much because I think I've gotten my writing mojo back (i was a bit off for a while) please do tell me if this is okay. I decided to try to write a bit in Brittany's POV (Santana is my gal and all but I thought it would be nice for a change). I'd like to hear/ read your opinions.

_Brittany's POV is italic._

I was trying to find a song-related title for this one (it's a thing lol) and I was browsing through songs and The Killers 'Read my Mind seemed to fit.

**Chapter 8 - Can you read my mind?**

_I always knew I'd wake up before her, she's always grumpy in the morning. I know this about Santana. I also know that she likes fries and coffee, that she groans at people and insults them because she likes to pretend she's angry but it doesn't reach her eyes._

"Morning" I say stretching in bed, it's been ages since I last slept this well. Not only the bed is warm and cozy, I feel like I'm sleeping on a cloud, but the rhythm of Brittany's breathing is the most relaxing sound ever. It reminds of the sound of the sea.

_Santana looks like a kitten now, yawning and making little noises as she suddenly occupies all the free space in bed. She's smiling, the only time I got to watch her as she woke up she did everything but smile. She threw a shoe at Rachel for waking her up._

"Hey." Brittany whispers softly as if she's scared of startling me. I wonder how long she's been watching me.

"I guess you didn't get rid of those creeper impulses." She blushes and I regret ever saying it. "Did you sleep well? I usually move a lot while sleeping, I hope I didn't slap you."

_I guess it's a bit weird that I've been watching her for the last fifteen minutes but what could I do, I couldn't get up without waking her up and she's lovely to stare at. I love how different she is from me, how her caramel skin has nothing to do with my natural paleness. I spent a lot of time deciding if I wanted to be her or be with her. And, by a lot of time, I mean 10 minutes._

"No. You slept like a baby, you just turned to me in the middle of the night and that was it." Brittany tells me. "I noticed because the chain had to be adjusted because you almost choked yourself with it."

"I'm sorry, I woke you up Britt."

"I'm not, I didn't want you to die." Brittany says like it's the most natural thing in the world.

_I woke up in the middle of the night and she was muttering things in Spanish. She had this frown on her face, like she was hurting. I didn't like it so I just turned the chain around us and pulled her close. I noticed how she relaxed when I held her close and whispered that it was all a dream. _

The most impressive thing about waking up next to Brittany was the way the sun was hitting her eyes. It made them so clear, so out of this world. I've never seen such lovely eyes but then again this is the first time I'm waking up close enough to give an Eskimo kiss to another person.

"What do we do now?" I ask her and she shrugs.

"Whatever you want, I guess. We can have breakfast. We found a supermarket that had a stash of Lucky Charms in the warehouse a few months ago, they are still good."

"I don't think I even know what Lucky charms are, as far as I am concerned you are MY Lucky charm." I grin at her and can't resist to give her a kiss on the tip of her nose. "Let's get up."

_I was torn between closing my eyes or keeping them wide open has her face got nearer to mine. But the kiss was gone as soon as it happened and before I knew, Santana was sitting in bed with her back against me. I don't exactly know what I feel for her but I'm sure this butterflies in my stomach aren't the same I swallowed when I was 5 years old. What? They were so pretty that I wanted to keep them inside me forever. People always told me inner beauty was what matters. It made a lot of sense at the time, my mom told me so._

I notice Brittany was a bit stunned by my kiss because she's never quiet and now I don't think she's even breathing properly. She's adorable, I don't really understand her. I doubt anyone does, I'm not sure what she wants from me. I mean she was pretty obvious last night but, at other times, she seems so sweet and innocent that it looks like I'm just making stuff up in my head. It's like things happen but I'm feeling the spaces between real things. When it comes to Brittany I'm not sure things are happening as I want it or if the happen and I see what I want to see.

She finally decides to sit next to me.

"I've got butterflies on my stomach."

"You're just hungry, baby." I tell her, again, not even sure if I heard what I wanted to hear or if she actually meant it like that. With her, you never know, she might actually have eaten butterflies before I woke up.

"I used to eat butterflies so I had inner beauty." See? What did I tell you. "But they never felt like this after I swallowed it." Oh.

"So you mean you have the "metaphorical" butterflies, not the literal ones?"

"I mean the ones you get when someone you really like does something you really like." She looks at me as she leans her head on my shoulder. I grab her hand and play with her knuckles with my thumb like she did to ground me yesterday.

"What is this?" I ask her. I know I'm being vague but if there's someone who will understand it's her.

"I have no idea." She answers me and gets up and starts dressing without another word taking me by the hand turning our arms in the direction of the chair where I have my pants on so I can get dressed as well.

_"What is this?" Santana asks me and I have no idea what to answer, so I answer just that. When I was little I really liked this boy called Rory. I used to say he was my leprechaun because he spoke funny and his parents only had green clothes to dress him with. We were 8 and I was always around him and calling him. Our parents could never keep us apart for too long. They used to whisper things like "young love" and I could never understand what they meant. I mean I loved my parents but I wasn't aware you could feel like that about other people who were not family. _

_Most days, at the community, we had a bonfire in the beach and they would sing songs that had funny titles like "All you need is love" or "Can't buy me love" or "Love me tender." So, one night, I sat on my father's lap and started playing with his beard. It was a thing I've always done when I want to ask something but had no idea how to word it._

_He was the most patient man in the world and I loved how his blue eyes reflected the fire or how he used to sing, he liked to sing whereas my mom loved to dance. So after they ended a rendition of a song called "She loves you", I finally found out what exactly was that I wanted to ask as he looked adoring at my mom as she danced with other girls of the community with a flower tiara in her head._

_"Dad, what is love?"_

_"Well, Britt, the most important feeling of the world." He said it and I thought it was the definition that you would find on dictionaries._

_"Yeah, but how do you know you love someone?" I insist and he looks at me with a "my baby so grown up" expression on his face._

_"It's easy, when that person becomes your favorite, favorite thing in the world. Like you and mama are to me." He says grinning widely showing his pointy canines that I inherited as well._

_"Then, I don't love Rory."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because flowers, you and mom and ducks are still my favorite things in the world."_

_And, until a couple of months ago, those were still my favorite things. But then Quinn sent me to spy on Santana and it seemed like I never wanted to look at anything else in the world._

_I tried to understand, I gave myself a headache because I spent a few nights awake trying to discover why would I feel like that about someone I've never spoken too. So maybe I was just kidding myself, maybe I know exactly what those butterflies mean_

_One day, in a town not very far from here, the New Directions were talking to this guy called St. James inside this old-fashioned store. Santana went wandering from the group looking at the shelves and picking up random things. A fork, a shovel, a saw. She tried to check it to the dim light and then put it back on the shelf. At one point, she was on one side and I was looking through the shelf at her. I found this clear hole where I could see her perfectly but forgot that she could probably see me through. I saw her looking at me with those big brown eyes. I thought it was the end of everything, my heart was pounding, I started sweating. I thought about all of things I could tell her before she unleashed her well-known fury. I only had one phrase on my head, "I love you", that's what I was going to say on my defence, I could feel this metallic taste on my mouth, this ache on my heart. "I love you" I was going over it one last time before I uttered it. But then, she picked up a mirror that was lying on the shelf, looked at herself and adjusted a lock of her silky dark hair into place. She put the mirror back at the self and went to where Puck was calling her and never looked again at my direction. I realized the back of the shelf had a glass and the light was reflecting from the mirror and she couldn't see me. _

_So I know I love her, that's the answer I should have given her but… Santana is like a wild majestic animal, like the ones I saw in books. Beautiful and yet so guarded that if you do a sudden movement it will either snap at you or ran away and you'll never set foot anywhere near it again. I didn't want to scare Santana with words that had mean too much, not yet, not when I have so much to tell her before she can understand that she's my favorite, favorite thing in the world._


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry for the wait, I had the most wonderful vacations and I didn't have time to write. I hope you can forgive me and that you like this chapter. I promise to make it up to you guys.

Thank you for the reviews and alerts as usual, they make me the happiest kid in the world.

_To Be Alone With You_ is a Sujfan Stevens song.

**Chapter 9 – To Be Alone With You**

We came down the stairs and there was no one around. I looked at Britt questioning and she seemed to read my mind.

"Everybody is doing their morning exercises, I got my day off today because of you. Usually it's on Friday's."

"What day is it again?" I asked, because I feel very lost, it seems like it has been forever since I entered that van.

"Tuesday" she says giggling "I picked you up on Monday."

"By picked me up you mean grabbed me and threw me in the backside of the van."

"Yes, I'm smooth like that."

"So what do we do now?"

"I think, let me see the schedule… The things are over there, you can take out anything you want." She motioned her hand to the cabinets and excused herself out of the kitchen and faster than I could ask her to stop I was shoved against the door frame. She forgot the chain so I was tugged into the door as my arm followed her.

"Hey, I'm still attached to you. Have you forgot me already? We go together or nobody goes, sister. We are Siamese twins now"

"Oh San, I'm sorry. Are you hurt?" She came hovering over me and checking out my face.

"I'm fine, Babycakes. Just watch where you are going, ok?" It was then that a thought reached my head. I grinned at her."You can always give me a kiss to make it better."

Brittany eagerly pulled me close and kissed my forehead and my cheek and then she pulled away. She stopped a moment staring from my eyes to my lips but before I could close our gap she turned, this time slowly, to get something from the other room. I followed her a little disappointed.

Britt started roaming some drawers and she came back with a black covered notebook that had her name written in crayon on a tag in the front.

"This is my journal. I write everything Quinn tells me to do and sometimes she writes stuff so only I can read."

"Secret stuff? Uuuuh!" I teased her.

"Shhh San, somebody can hear!" She grabbed my hand and took us back to the kitchen table. We sat with the notebook between us as she flipped the pages that alternated from her own handwriting with hearts on the "i" and smiley faces all around, written with different colored pens and Quinn's who only used black pens. It had everything from "dear journal" confessionals to recipes to grocery lists to...anotations of Brittany's mission? Britt turned bright red as she flipped through those.

"I bet you were writing about me on those pages, you look like the missing link between humans and tomatoes."

"That's really not what I'm looking for and...It's classified."

"I bet it is, did you wrote down all the things you wanted to do when you finally got me here?" I smirk at her and I try to reach the notebook which she snatches away with amazing speed.

"Here I found it. "she says as she carefully sets it back down." Brittany" she begins to read eying me suspiciously.

"So far, so good" I tell her as I lean back and wait for her to continue reading.

"...I need you to do me a favor. there's a morse code transmission device in a house near the town. I need you to go there with Santana and steal it for us. Take all the time you need but please do not try to negotiate it for Skittles. You'll need to go in and fetch it. remember the last time?"

"What happened the last time?" I ask already amused.

"I'll tell you as soon as I finish" She says in a serious business tone I've never heard on her."Please be careful, I know you like San -" she trails off. " I don't think I should read you this part, it's kind of personal." She lowers her eyes like she's ashamed to ever hide everything from me.

"Oh don't worry, I understand. Read it to yourself, I'll just wait for you to finish. No problem." I grab her arm and lean my head on her left shoulder facing away from the paper. I can guess what Quinn wrote down. She probably warned Britt that I might hurt her once we are away, that she is uneasy to leave her alone with me, maybe she should take someone else. I hear Britts sighing next to me and she gently kisses the top of my head.

"I trust you with my life, I want you to know that."

"You don't even know me, Brittany. How can you possibly do that?" I look at her dead in the eye and I find a certainty in her eyes that I haven't seen in anyone else, let alone about me.

"Because I don't know how to be any different around you." Then she looks to her fidgeting feet and before I can stop myself I'm already saying it.

"We'll prove them wrong, Britts, we'll show them how much wiser than anyone else you are." I pull her to a hug, an awkward one I'm not going to lie but it was all I felt like doing.

The smile I earned in return dissipated all the awkwardness and it made all the sense in the world after all.

I started to fuss around the drawers and gathered stuff for us to eat while Brittany wrote in red crayon that she accepted the mission and that she only needed me to do it. We would take the van and once we got there we'd figure out how to steal the thingy. Quinn appointed a meeting during the afternoon to tell us about what she and Blaine found out about the people in that house. Brittany's left arm followed me faithfully as she wrote like it wasn't bothering her.

I sat next to her, eating my cereals and urging her to eat hers.

"You need to eat."

"I'm just finishing this, I swear." She says with the cutest concentration look on her face.

"What are we going to do until she sends us off?"

"Rest, we will not have a lot of chances of having naps on that van."

"I see you've got big plans for our nights out." I wink at her and she starts stuttering how that was totally not she meant. I kiss her cheek and help her up. "So upstairs?"

"No. I finally managed to tie a net to two trees, so we have a bed for us, we should lay down in the shade outside." She is grinning like it's the best idea ever but I'm struggling with the tree bed concept.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean."

"Let's go. You'll love it"

We reach the trees and in fact, it's a net tied to two trees and I can see how you can lay in it. But it looks...

"Small, I know. We'll have to spoon because I couldn't figure out the correct size for 2 people so it's more like a person and half bed." She gives me a nervous giggle and holds a breath until I tell her it looks fine and that I was sure she planned it all along.

"San.." She scolds and gives me a light slap on my shoulder.

"No need to get violent, I couldn't resist me if I was you anyway."

"You are so full of yourself." She says giggling.

"Part of my charm, sweet cheeks." I eye "it" again. "So I don't know how you play this, explain like I'm really dumb."

"It's easy San, all you have to do is lay down. Try it."

She makes it sound easy so I march confidently and end up sitting in a way that it swings and I land with my back in the dirt on the other side. My feet are up and Brittany was pushed by her arm and ends up lying awkwardly on the net. I hear laughs and I look in its direction. The whole team is passing by on their training jog and saw the entire thing. Great.

"San, are you okay? this-this-this never happened to me."

"That's because you are a child of outdoor activities and you are like a cat. Unlike you, I'm as clumsy as you can get." I tell her as I huff with no intention of getting up.

"You should get out of the sun, now I promise you won't fall." She adjusts herself in it and I lie carefully beside her. When I'm no longer scared I'm going to make a fool of myself, I realise how incredibly close Brittany is. Her whole body flushed against me, the middle of the net is sinking while the sides force us together. Her face is turned to me and I can feel her breathe on my cheek so I suddenly try to count all the leaves above us in my head. Anything to avoid turning to face her.

"So, is this a hippie community thing?"

"Yeah, we used to sleep on this when the weather was nice. I love it."

"Is this...aham... where you and Quinn sleep?" Is this jealousy? I mean she did say they slept outside together. I'm just curious, I'm just. Why is she laughing?

"Don't you ever hear what I say? I said this was for us, I finished before I went to get you."

"Oh" I'm trying to hide my relief but I'm not successful. She just smiles.

"I thought we could use some privacy and I know most people don't really like sleeping in the ground. And yesterday when you said the bug thing, I was really happy I made this so you feel safe in it. I'm glad the guys accepted you better than I expected but still. I feel like some time away from the pack might help them relax a bit more."

"Are you always thinking of everybody's wellbeing before yours?" I have to turn to ask her.

"Uh, yes? I don't know, I don't do it on purpose." She hides her face on my shoulder.

"It's amazing, look at me." I look into her eyes and we are so close. I trace her jaw with my free hand, this time I'm not losing the opportunity. "You are amazing." I whisper and press my lips into hers, with closed eyes and a fluttering heart.


	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks to everybody who keeps reading this. I hope I'm doing something right :)**

**This is one of my favorite songs ever. Turning Page by Sleeping at Last. Yes, it's from Breaking Dawn soundtrack but these guys are too amazing.**

**Chapter 10 - Turning Page**

_Your love is my turning page/Only the sweetest words remain_

"As you may know already, Santana, I have a mission for both of you." Quinn said passing as we stood in front of her under the shade of the trees near the house. We are away from the others, enough so they can't hear us.

"Yes, Ma'am." She stops for a second in front of me and raises her perfect eyebrow. She's trying to find out if I'm making fun of her.

"We can't wait to go there! It's going to be so much fun!" Brittany is being her bright self near me, she's excited and still a bit flushed from all that net making out. And by making out I mean, the two kisses we managed to give before Quinn started calling us for the meeting. One can never have peace in this camp.

"We'll bring the device as fast as we can, we'll avoid main roads so we don't have any close encounters with other groups, specially New Directions." I say casually, as I have in other missions with ND. Before I know it, I'm on the floor with Quinn's hands around my throat and Brittany telling her to stop.

"If Brittany. Comes back. With so much. As a scratch on her face. I will chase you. Til the end of the world. Do you understand, Lopez" She spoke in intervals to stress the dramatic effect. A bit exaggerated in my opinion seeing that I was already turning purple.

"Quinn…I…" I tried to speak but she does have a really nice grip for such a petit person. "I swear…Let me…I can't breat-" I try to take her hands of my neck but I can't. She has a knee over my chest and I feel like I'm crushing to the ground like a sand castle under a foot.

"SAY IT. OR YOU'LL DIE RIGHT HERE?!" She's not letting go and my vision is already going blurry. I know Britt is trying to make her roll off of me, but she's not moving.

"QUINN, please stop. San is alright, she won't hurt me, she won't, I know it…Please stop, please. You are hurting her."

"Trust me…" I manage to utter. "I luf 'er" I say and I see that deadly flame vanish from Quinn's eyes. She takes her knee out and I take a big gulf of air. Brittany kneels next to my head and raises me to lay my head in her knees. Her eyes are red and she's in the brick of crying. Quinn is standing by my feet and rolls her eyes. "Quinn" I say as I manage to. "I would rather hurt myself than hurt Britt-Britt. You might not believe it." She does not, she crosses her arms and rolls her eyes again.

"Why do you are so rude to Santana? Finn might be a traitor in disguise and you don't even question his comeback?"

"Oh please, Britt, Finn is a troll. He can't fool a dumb sheep."

"People say I'm stupid all the time Quinn, you should know better." Britt says bitterly helping me up.

"What I said is true, I love Brittany. I don't know why or how and, to be honest, I never felt this before." Now, I roll my eyes at my own lameness, what have I become?" I love her, I will protect her the best I can although obviously you keep people here better trained that we did back at the ND."

"That much is true, you are some lazy fucks." She turns away and begins to walk towards the house. The suddenly she turns. "Your carriage, love birds" Like that she throws the keys of a van to us. Brittany catches since I still feel a bit fuzzy from the lack of oxygen.

"I'm so sorry, Quinn really hates new people."

"It's okay, I would hate them too if I was in charge of all these people." I try to take the dust out of my already disgusting clothes.

"You are not mad?" Brittany stops studying my face.

"How can I be mad when she's just trying to protect you." And then I realize what she means. My anger usually rises up over the littlest things. I guess that's what happens when someone watches you for long enough, she remembers things about myself that I'd probably forget. So I just smile at her and give her a peck on the lips. "This is all your fault, you know? You turned me into a wuss."

"I've just made you more civilized. You should thank me, all that bad energy always unbalanced your chakras." She motions her hand throw her body as if to tell we where the ~chakras~are.

"I bet those are some hippie silly colorful thing you believe."

"There are points of energy that run through you and that help you….you know what? I'll explain you later. Let's pack and I'll tell you all about it on the road." She just shakes her head and takes my head leading us back into the house.

When we reach our room I see a new pile of clothes by the backpacks.

"I guess you passed Quinn's first test, you got yourself new clothes."

"Thank you, LORD. I can't stand these lousy rags anymore." I look at her sideways as she picks stuff to leave.

"I think I need a bath don't you?" She smirks at me like She just had the greatest idea of all times.

"We…" I start staggering and she knows I got what I meant." We shouldn't be seen together…as in naked…as in by other people than Quinn?"

"Why? It's not like they don't know you care for me or how I sighed over you this past few months?" This girl is a puzzle to me. A magnificent and complicated one. She takes a step towards the door and locks it, then she turns to me and kisses me deeply. I'm pretty sure nobody has ever kissed me like this.

"I just don't want to give them leverage over us. The less they know, the better. I trust Quinn, she's like a sister to you, I don't trust the others. I want us to have some freedom."

"How does one thing have to do with other?" She looks at me with a raised eyebrow. "San, this doesn't…"

"We'll be alone in a while, we should enjoy our time alone to do…those things… I don't mind them thinking that I'm madly in love or that you are too with me. I just don't want them to know we have figured ourselves out, not yet at least. Some people might try to pull us apart."

"I don't think that's possible." She chuckles and points to the chain binding us.

"We'll figure something out. I just don't want anything bad to happen to us. I want to see hippie naked Brittany sleeping with the bugs and not the scared hidden version of you. And most importantly, I don't want to lose you. You are the light of my eyes now."

"Oh San, you really have gone mushy." She giggles and kisses me again. And suddenly, being mushy was not so embarrassing.


	11. Chapter 11

Thank you, thank you, you are far too kind.

Diana, this is the answer to your Brittany question.

TheDuckIsinTheHat is always a pleasure to see you are sticking around.

This is a novelty to me, I hope you enjoy this chapter and tell me if I'm doing this right? *wink wink*

Today's song is Avalanche City's adorable song Sunset.

**Chapter 11 – Sunset**

We got in the van and decided that I should drive first. For the longest time, Brittany sat still, with her forehead in the window and she looked like she was deep in thought.

"We didn't have time to discuss -" She starts but stops mid-sentence like she's choosing the right words with such care.

"We didn't have time to even think before Quinn made as start up the van, they must need this goddamn transmitter a lot. And for what? I can't understand." I know I'm deflecting, I'm pretty sure the fact that I said I loved her just sank in but I have some scattered fake anger to let out.

"We are not required to understand, Santana. We just do it." She answers me in a tone that sounds strangely close to disappointment even if has nothing to do with the words she uttered.

"And you don't question it? Don't you ever question her motives? Or do you just go along with the surf?" I have to ask but I should know that Quinn's little reign is pretty military in form.

"Why are you suddenly so agitated? Is it because I was going to question you about why you said what you said?" She finally gets it out like she couldn't hold the words in her mouth for even a minute longer.

"Britt, I say a lot of things…" This is my last try not to analyze things…it's not going to work out I'm pretty sure of it.

"You said that you loved me, why did you?" Uh-oh, she sounds sad, like she expects me to regret it. I never want her to think that. I just don't know how to deal with this but I can't let her think like this.

"Because…it's true…I thought." There. The truth will set you free and yada, yada, yada. I'm just scared, scared shitless of putting my heart out there.

"What?" She looks at me like I've suddenly turned into some exotic creature.

"I thought we were on the same page on that." I chuckle nervously to hide the fact that I'm nervous but I think the fact that my hands are shaking is giving me out. I learned that the more you kept to yourself the best. And it's one thing to say a grave thing like that when someone is trying to kill you, the other is saying to the person you do in fact love when you hold all of their attention because…we are in a car, with not even a radio to distract her from hearing every single ounce of truth that hangs on my every word. But they say it's the start that feels the hardest, so it should be easier from now one…shouldn't it?

"We are, I mean, I know I have feelings…strong feelings but I don't want you to say it because I'm obviously head over heels over you.I want you to feel it." She is chosing the words again, or picking them like apples in a stand. I think Britts would like that description better.

"And I do feel it." It's all true and I can only feel more and more anxious and not set free at all.

"How do you know you are not just reacting to me, people always told me that I should guard myself a bit more. Maybe they are right? Maybe I shoved my love down your throat and now you feel like you have some sort of retribution to make, I don't want you to love me because you are grateful. I want you to feel about me the way I do because it's so magical. It makes me forget that I haven't seen my family in so long, it makes me hope that I'll see them again, it makes me have more faith in the future. Because, if I found you….if you loved me back, then there's nothing in this world that is impossible. Maybe there's a fate, a plan for all of us. Maybe there's a future in store and after all this necessity and fear and pain people can be happy and carefree and happy again." She stops breathless and I think for the first time I finally realize she's just as nervous as I am.

"You should definitely run for President when this is all over, baby." I'm grinning so much right now that my cheeks hurt. She looks really sweet even if she's on the verge of crying.

"I'm serious." Britt sniffles a bit.

"I know, Britt-Britt. Your ramble was the most inspiring thing I've heard in a long time and I promise you…I promise you that nothing will get out of my mouth for gratitude or duty or even because I think that's what you want to hear. You haven't heard the news? I'm selfish. The reason I said I love you is because I really do. I've never felt this way, I could swear on my dead parents that was a feeling that was impossible for me to feel. If this looks like a miracle to you, you who believes in unicorns and fairies and pots o'gold at the end of the rainbow, imagine what it looks like to me. All I've seen is ruins and hunger and sadness, I thought I was going to feel this anger until someone put a bullet in my head. And here I am, in a van, chained to a girl who turned my world upside down. And if you said to me, let's run away, I would. If you tell me you never want to see me again I'd back away. You showed me a whole new side of life, in less than 48 hours. What more can I ask, you upgraded my life into something meaningful just by showing up. How can you still have doubts about what I feel? I've been nothing if truthful to myself when I said I loved you, I think for the first time in my life I chose the truth and not the lie. " Ta-dah, now I think I'm all out of words to say.

"Wow." Now she's fully crying and for a split second I'm sure I screwed up. But then she shines her glorious smile at me and I see those pointy teeth I find adorable and I think I must have done something right.

"I know, you thought you were the only one with a speech." I try to play it cool but my hands are still shaking.

"I just want you to be happy." She utters so quietly that it sounds like she's wishing upon one of the stars that are starting to show up even if the sun is not.

"Same." I hope that my wish gets a ride on her wish and they both come through…together.

"I'm just so glad to finally have you with me. It just seems impossible we are getting along so well. "

"I can be pretty annoying when I want to. I just don't seem to feel like being like that around you. I don't exactly know how it works but it is wierding me out a bit."

"Just wait until we have sex, you'll be the nicest person anyone has ever met." Brittany smirks at me and sounds strangely confident. She's probably done that before..sex I mean. I did too, just not with a girl. That I love…I'm so fucked up…my hands are shaking again.

"You are a modest little one, aren't you?" Yes, that was the best thing I could come up with.

"I just put my money where my mouth is." Did you see what she did there? She said mouth and then licked her lips, she has to have done this on purpose and suddenly the road is the most interest thing ever.

"Oh, that's some nice expression to use, how am I supposed to stir in a straight line with this mental image?"

"Maybe…just maybe, straight isn't the right direction at all." Oh god, is she getting closer? Please, please don't let her….

"Britt-Britt, what are you doing? You…You…Y…I really don't want to die." I know this isn't the most convincing way to keep a girl from kissing your neck while your driving but this is a combination of firsts and most importantly…I can't think. Before I notice, I'm leaning my head towards her letting her kiss and lick my ear. I have to swerve a bit roughly so we don't hit a tree.

"In that case you probably should watch the road." She whispers right in my ear and I think my brain stops working.

"And how exactly am I going to do that if…if..aaaham." I'm pretty sure her hand is under my t-shirt but everything is in overload, it's hard to figure anything out. All I want is to take my hands out of the wheel but I have no idea what to do with them on her so I'll just grip it tighter.

"You don't really need to worry about anything, I've got it covered." And with that she just cups one of my breasts and I just have to stop the goddamn van because this is just too unfair.

"I'm sure…I'm…Sure you have all thought out… But I think it's better for me to stop somewhere before I lose my focus." I manage to say between kisses. And I'm reaching to take the seatbelt off but she just tells me to continue driving.

"All you have to do is relax, the sun is almost set there's no one in this track, just watch out for the trees." I don't think I've seen such a mischievous smile in my life, other than in myself.

"That may…may be easier to do if your hand wasn't unzipping….th-th-that." I try to speak but even breathing is an ordeal right now.

"Oh c'mon San, maybe you should just loosen up a bit." She keeps whispering and I feel her hot breath in the shell of my ear and I can feel her smile on her words. I'm sure she's enjoying this as much if not more than me. Just when I'm beginning to relax, her hands slips inside my pants and I think I see stars. I don't even realize I'm accelerating the car instead of slowing down.

"Oh god, easier said than d…I'll just shut up and let…uh…let you… do…your thing." I just try my best not to close my eyes. No one has ever make me feel like this, let alone in a car, not to mention I'm doing the driver. This girl is going to be the end of me.


	12. Chapter 12

This chapter is pure smut because I don't really think there was enough in the last one. Lol joking, I'm just a perv like that. I hope you enjoy it. Tell me of your justice, if I should stop with smut at all in this story. Thank you for all your kind reviews.

This chapter was written entirely at the sound of No Doubt's Push and Shove, because I'm hooked even if I can't explain why, so it's fair I use it on the title.

**Chapter 12 - Push and Shove**

**Brittany's POV**

Of course this wasn't a good idea, we are out of the van still flushed and with a busted tire. But how was I supposed to resist San when she made herself so vulnerable so we could have the talk.

"Don't worry San, I can fix this. I've change a lot of tires since I'm with Quinn." I'm smiling at her like this is my favourite day ever because, well, this is the best day ever. I still can't believe San told me she loves me and we just had our first….i don't know how you call almost sex in a car. We did blow the tire just when she was about to…you know…cum. I've never changed a tire in my life, I always asked one of the boys to do it. I watched it plenty of times so I'm sure I can make it. I just didn't want to freak out in the middle of the desert. Specially since it's dark now and there are probably coyotes out there. I better not mention that to her.

"What was that sound? Was it…oh my god was that a howl?" She asks completely panicked. "If that's a coyote and it doesn't kill us, then Quinn will. I promised to keep you safe and I managed to ruin the van…"

"Maybe you shouldn't worry so much about me, I can handle myself, I can handle both of us." I keep the smile on my face and my hand goes on hers automatically as we move to the trunk so I can take everything I think I remember that is needed to change the tires.

"I might have no clue of what I'm doing but you don't have to worry about me either." She says as she crosses her arms across her chest. What a lovely chest, focus Brittany!

"Baby, I need my hand to pick up the things" I say motioning to the chain that is just a few centimeters short from the stack I have to carry. I almost forgot how stubborn this girl is, she will not give in until we finish this banter. When she doesn't move her arm I just sit on the back of the van and wait for her to say what's bothering her. It's hard to believe anything could be bothering her after that but then, this is Santana and she almost came.

"I might be a newbie at Quinn's but I've handled myself just fine since I was 18. Not to mention the only reason you got me was because Finn was in with you guys and made me trip."

"I know." I push by the chain slowly as I smirk at her. "Trust me I know exactly how badass you can be Santana Lopez, but you need to deal with it. When you love someone you want to protect her, I'll always want to take care of you even if Quinn thinks I can't handle myself alone."

"I don't think that's her issue here. She just thinks I'm a backstabbing bitch. I kind of am, but I don't ever want to do that to you." She's standing between my legs and finally smiling. Sitting on the van, I'm lower than she is so she uses this advantage to straddle my legs. She puts her free arm around my shoulder and the other hand on my cheek."I don't know what you are doing to me but I really think you should finish what you started because it's all I can think since I messed up this van.

"Good, because I totally think we should fix that tire tomorrow. I don't want some dingo to eat my baby."

"I have no idea what you are saying because dingoes only exist in Australia." She looks at me surprised"What I like learning about animals, okay? But I agree we would be safer inside a van in the dark and we should totally do something to warm up."

"No matter how lovely you look now, Miss Pierce, the warm thing is the oldest trick in the book to get on a girl's pants. "

"What can I say? You make it so hard to breathe around you that a girl has to get back to the basics to be able to say more than yes or no." I say as I place light kisses on her jaw line and feel her body get impossibly close to mine. "You should close those doors behind you though."

"Humpf. Way to kill a mood."

"Not killing it, that would leave them open to have a friendly coyote pass by." I say as I scoot as far as I can to the van. I watch Santana close the doors and crawl back on me. And it's as sexy as it sounds."Come here."

As we begin to kiss I try to take her t-shirt off again but she breaks the kiss.

"Nah-nah, you had your fun all you wanted, now it's my turn."

"I was under the impression that I had unfinished business to attend."

"You have and you will finish it." Santana smirks as she takes my hands over my head and pushes me down until my back are fully on the van floor "Later."

When I think she is going to let go off my hands, she doesn't. She kisses me deeply and bites my lower lip hard enough to sting and but not enough to hurt. I hiss and I can feel her smiling down on me. My eyes are now used to the pitch black darkness inside the van and I can see Santana's silhouette.

I can see her raising herself a bit and I have no idea how can she hold on to my hands and still move, I always get surprised on how strong this girl is. My girl is, it sounds so good in my head I feel like saying it out loud. I'm still thinking on this when she lowers her body and starts kissing my neck. She keeps my wrists together with a hand and finds a rope at the side of the van floor and uses it to tie my free hand to our chained ones.

"Exactly what are you doing?" I ask and it is what takes me to realize I'm panting already. I blame it on her hot breath on my neck.

"Since you can't keep your hands to yourself, I thought I needed an extra help so I can have a free hand to tease you as you teased me. It was not fun, Miss Pierce."

"Oh I hate to disagree, there was never anything better than teasing you while you drive Miss Lopez. "

"That sounds like a challenge, Pierce." She whispers into my ear and my heart stops. I feel her move her legs taking her right one between my thighs. I moan louder than I intended to, it would be embarrassing if I wasn't waiting for this for so long I can't be bothered to care about it shows in every little touch of hers on my body. It's probably the contrary, I want her to know how much I've wanted this for so long.

Santana's hands began to roam over my body.

"Too. Much. Clothes." She says as she tugs my t-shirt up.

"Maybe you should have thought about it when you tied me." I say smugly hoping she'd set me free and end this torture. Having her so close and not being able to feel her is probably going to drive me insane. Not that people think I'm normal anyway.

"All we have to do is pull it up and it will actually help you be still since it would be another way to tie you." Before I can complain she pulls my shirt until it reaches my wrists over my head. She kisses me deeply and presses herself down. Her own shirt has ridden up and I can feel the skin of her stomach against mine and I feel like I'm going to combust on a sort of inner flames. I kiss her back as fiercely as I can and moan again as I feel her thigh rubbing against my center. I bend my knee so I can bring her even closer and now she's the one grunting. Santana goes back at biting my lip and I arch my back as she scratches my side with her free hand. I haven't had that many sexual experiences before but I had no idea it could be this hot and we are not even naked yet.

Santana is probably thinking the same thing because she drags her nails over my stomach as she attacks my neck again and unbutton my pants. I help her getting them out. I can't really think about anything except her touching me and I'm certainly not getting in the way of that. She also puts my panties of and suddenly her kisses became softer and sweeter and I feel like she's slowing down. All I can hear is our panting between kisses and feel her fingertips running over my bent thigh.

"I haven't done anything like this, ever." She says and sounds awfully shy.

"We don't have to…"

"I really want to, I just need you to promise me you'll say if I'm doing something wrong." She says as she kisses all over my chest lightly.

"I promise, San. I love you."

"And I love you too, Brittany." She kisses me in the mouth again and I guess that shyness.

Her fingertips run another time over my thighs before I feel her fingers touching my core and it's my turn to bite her lip. She hisses and whispers my name in a way that makes it sound like the sexiest name ever. And I'm pretty sure her name is the sexiest name. I don't even need to make it on purpose, her fingers are rubbing against me and all I can do is moan her name and arch my back.

Santana takes this opportunity to get inside me, at first slowly as if she is giving me time to tell her to stop. But I never say anything because from that moment on I can't bring myself to say a coherent word. All I can breathe, feel, taste, think or say is Santana. It's like all that that brings me over the edge, that and her second finger inside me while she rubs my clit with her thumb. She lays her head on my chest as I come down from my high and she waits until my breathing calms down to say.

"I'm so glad that tire blew up, I would have done it on purpose before if I knew I got to make love to you."

As if my head wasn't still light-headed enough, she had to make my heart try to beat his way out of my chest again.


	13. Chapter 13

Sorry for taking so long to update, life got in the way. I had a major writer's block to help with everything. I hope this is good enough to help you forgive me, I promise something more substantial in the next chapter I just wanted to do a bridge between last chapter's fun and their real mission.

**Chapter 13 - The Difference Between Shooting Stars and Satellites**

**Brittany's POV**

"Not that I really mind being chained to you, but we should really find a way to take these off." I want to trust Santana, I really do. But I can't deny I'm a bit scared that she is going away as soon as I take the handcuff off. I'm being silly, it's just that I really should stick to Quinn's instructions. Quinn is always right.

"I don't want to hurt any of us, all the tools we have are very aggressive, we'll probably just end up cutting a wrist in the process." I say as I place the new tire in place. We are sitting by the side of the van and I'm fixing it like I promised Santana I would. She has noticed already that I've never done this before but she didn't get mad at me. She even chuckled a bit at my worried face when explained why I lied. She's been helping me, passing me the instruments and smiling at me the whole time. When I asked her why she was smiling so much because it was making it really hard for me to concentrate.

"Your tongue always shows at the side when you focus hard on something, it's the cutest thing."

"Well, you always tilt your head sideways when you are confused, like a confused puppy. I guess we are even." I finish with the tire and look up. It's barely dawn, it's really cold outside but none of us seem to mind. Santana helps me up and pulls me into a kiss, I could get used to kissing her but somehow I feel like I never will because none of her kisses are alike. Her kisses are as moody as her. I think it's a good thing, a great thing. Before I can notice I'm pinning her against the van and she is pushing me lightly away.

"We should get going if we want to finish this mission as soon as possible." I think I'm pouting a bit because she giggles and gives me a peck on the lips. Then she puts her arms around my neck pulling me closer into her and whispers in my ear.

"You know everything would have been a lot more comfortable in a bed, that's why I want this silly treasure hunt to be over as quickly as possible."

I smile against her shoulder because it's the best shoulder in the world and kiss her cheek as I agree to move along with our journey.

Being chained to Santana does have some inconvenient and one of them is hopping on the car and having to bounce my way into the wheel. However, the nice part is that since my chained arm is the left one, in order for me to drive Santana has to put her arm over my shoulders being impossibly close to me through the whole time. That makes her want to lean her head on my shoulder and it feels nice. Another thing I could easily get used to. She dozes off as soon as the track gets less bumpy and I think she is dreaming because sometimes she gives little whimper and whispers "please don't" quite a few times. It isn't until she starts clinging to my shirt and her face crunches all in worry that I decide to wake her up. I don't ask her what she was dreaming off, I know almost nothing about Santana's past and I don't want to pry.

"Thanks…I was a…I…bad dream, just a bad dream." She says, straightening up trying to snap out of her dream and leave the panic behind. She starts taking her surroundings and searching our backpack for the map Quinn gave us.

"Again, this would a lot easier if I could use both of my hands." She says impatient and I just smile at her, I try to hold my tongue but I can't resist.

"You did wonderfully last night with only one hand available." I say it serious and with my eyes on the road. I can feel her looking at me and her smirk forming still trying to decide how to answer me.

"Well, but think of it this way, if I can do it with ONE hand imagine what I'll be able to do with TWO." She says and resumes her search.

I know my face suddenly grew seriously because since I was little it hurts me to frown because I almost never do. I never have had much to worry about or better said, never gave myself the chance to. I mean, life is shitty and all that but it's all we have and we need to get over stuff and get on with our lives and try to be happy again. I suddenly realize I've lost myself, why was I frowning? Oh, yeah. Well, so Santana doesn't realize I'm frowning because she's busy on her one hand only search. But the thing is, I have the key. I have the key in the inside of my boot that unchaines us. I look away from the road and look at Santana's perfect face and take little bits of her in as I try to stay on track at the same time. She's the most beautiful person I've ever met, I still feel like that or better said I feel it even more now that…we… okay can't lose track again…since last night. I find myself smiling at the thought and she is telling me that my staring is making her hard to concentrate. Just like she looking at me makes me hard to think. So maybe she really does feel the same way about me, I finally got my wish to come through. Well, that thought does cheer me up but it makes me so scared at the same time. I have a reason to worry now, to frown. She can run away as soon as I set her free. She can realize that she can do a lot better than me.

"Britt-britt, you are frowning again, what's wrong?" She found her map and opened it and I didn't even notice it. She stopped looking at it and she is looking at me with her warm brown eyes full of concern.

"Nothing really, I'm just thinking of how much I love you already." I try to smile and realize I sounded sadder than I wanted to.

"And that makes you sad?" She pauses between words and sounds confused. She's tilting her head like I told her early that she did.

"Because I can't keep you from running." I admit ashamed, it sounds as ridiculous as it did inside my head. I can't keep her chained to me, I can't keep lying to her that I can't take this off. What happens if she finds out, what makes me better than those people who mistreated Karofski. I'm just about to tell her everything when she speaks but I don't get what she said. "What?"

"I said you are being silly. Stop the car."

"Why?" I ask puzzled.

"Because we arrived at these people's farm. We are just on the farthest corner of their land and in a perfect place to hide the van and spy on them."

"Already?"

"Yeah, you've been speeding a bit since I woke up." She giggled, "a bit" was an understatement, we still had half an hour to go last time I checked.

I smile nervously at her and stop the van so it stays hidden between rocks. My chest is hurting a bit, it always happens when I think about Santana leaving. It happened when I followed her around and lost myself thinking about the day we would meet and I imagined she would think of me as a freak. It hurts more that I know she can see me and she is with me and she can walk away anyway. My throat feels like it's shutting down and I focus ahead and try to breathe slowly and it's not easing out. All I can see is Santana finding the key in my boot and hating me forever for lying to her. I think I'm hyperventilating now and it never happened before.

"Britt, what's wrong? You look like you are having a panic attack." She is concerned about me and all I can do is lean in to her even if it makes breathing harder so that's what I do. I bury myself on her neck. Suddenly her smell takes over my panic and I feel myself growing calm. It's a very slow process but her arms around me, her sweet raspy voice in my hear whispering singing to me.

_Then looking upwards  
I strain my eyes and try  
To tell the difference between shooting stars and satellites  
From the passenger seat as you are driving me home._

I never heard this song before but it makes me feel a lot better. She is stroking my back as it's the most calm I feel in years even if I don't really understand how it works.

_"Do they collide?"  
I ask and you smile.  
With my feet on the dash  
The world doesn't matter._

I'm crying but not of sadness, her voice is so beautiful and she's singing the words I really feel like I needed to hear.

_When you feel embarrassed then I'll be your pride  
When you need directions then I'll be the guide  
For all time._

Santana repeats the last line again and I sniffle a bit away from her and whisper the quietest thank you I can manage. I'm not embarrassed because my daddy always told me we should let what you feel show, holding feelings makes people bitter and I never want to be like that. I can tell Santana held a lot of feelings all her life, that's why she sounds angry to most people but I'm going to help with that. I know I can't make her past better but I can make her happy with her future even with all my weirdness. I wipe a tear and lean against her again without saying a word, just sighing.

"What were you thinking? Was it about me? You never ever need to be scared of losing me, I think the world needs to end for real this time to keep us apart. With or without chains."

I laugh against her shoulder and tilt my head so I can kiss her neck. I feel her shiver.

"Now, now, we have work to do. I just wanna get home and relax for a bit. I found this amazing girl and got chained to her, found that she has been watching me and doesn't mind my bitchiness and I can't even make proper love to her because there's freaking coyotes around. Will I ever get a moment of peace of mind to properly ask you to be my girlfriend?"

I'm so stunned that I don't even say anything I just grin and see rainbows behind Santana and fireflies and a dwarf showering us with petals of flowers. I have to close my eyes because I feel Santana's lips on mine but as soon as I'm getting used to this kiss's mood she backs away and gets out of the door.

"Let's get that damn machine and hope it's made of gold to be worth almost getting eaten by wild dogs."

**Author's note:** Death Cab for Cutie is my favorite band of all time so understand that I'll try to fit their songs in as much as I can. I know it's very implausible that Santana would have heard this song during her journey so let's just say that there was an older version of me that could actually play this in a piano and sang this to her when she was very tiny and impressionable.

This one is Passenger Seat from their most amazing album (trust me I say this about all of them) Transatlanticism.


	14. Chapter 14

Thank you for your kind reviews :)

So this chapter is longer and rougher than usual, i hope you like it anyway.

Wild Beasts have contributed to the title this time around. I also went to marvellous Wikipedia for a quick explanation of the name of the song a while back and I'll share it with you now: _The __**lion's share**__ is an idiomatic expression which develops from a number of fables ascribed to Aesop and is now used as their generic title, although they exist in several different versions. Other fables featuring the same basic situation of an animal dividing up a prey in such a way that it gains the greater part, or even all, exist in the East._

**Chapter 14 - Lion's Share**

**Brittany's POV**

"I think we should walk a bit on foot, we are way too far from the house here." Santana says putting the binoculars down and stopping with her hands on her hips staring ahead.

She does look like the undercover version of my dad's favorite comic book character: Wonder Woman. He always kept his old editions in a special trunk and we would sit by the fire when I was too young to read and he would read it to me, making different voices for the characters and making sounds for the car chases and explosions and guns. It would take years for me to finally hear a gunshot and understand that my dad couldn't make that noise to save his life. Everything was a lot harsher than it seemed in those books, even if there was always some evil dude trying to destroy the earth.

"I think you are right." I say putting our backpack on.

"We should have brought two of those, it's not fair that you are going to carry all that weight. When you feel tired, just say and I'll carry it." She says putting on some aviator shades that Quinn gave us. She knew we would be spending a lot of time in the sun. San got real mad when I told her I should have the one with the cracked lens, she argued and make me take the good ones. She said the sun would hurt my eyes more because they were blue, but I think she just made that up.

"Quinn said I should never let you have the backpack. I should carry it always and the key of the van –"

"God, Fabray does have trust issues doesn't she?"

"Can you blame her?"

"Why? All I got from that story is that she pushed Rachel away, not that she was abandoned."

"She made herself an armor like an armadillo."

"Like a what?"

"Armadillo, those little animals that have this armor and turn into balls when they are under attack?"

"Honey, I think you are describing me... or a turtle" Santana chuckled and grabbed my hand as we strolled by the side of the fence that had bushes that had grown over it thanks to the tiniest creek along it.

"Well." I start poking her sides."you are kind like a turtle to be honest. If I poke you, you'll get out of your shell."

Santana starts giggling and turns so she can protect her most sensitive parts. She begins to walk backwards and I stop poking her.

"San, please turn around."

"Why? Like this I can walk and stare at your pretty face."

"You'll fall and get hurt, turn around."

"Oh c'mon Britt! What's the worse that can happen? Can it be worse than missing out on your face?" She is smirking at me and I'm bashfully looking down now when she does fall down.

"San, you okay?" I crouch down next to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She says a little annoyed. "My ass has better suspension than that van."

"That much is true." I say, blushing.

"Have you been checking out my ass, Miss Pierce?"

"I might have, I mean you have this thing for walking ahead of everybody. And my daddy always told me to look ahead while I walk because I used to bang my head on things all the time."

"Well, that explains a lot." She snorts and I slap her arm lightly. I look up and I see something ahead of us. I grab Santana's arm so she stops moving.

"Lay down, San." She notices the chance in my face and does as I tell her. The grass is so tall, that she stays perfectly hidden and I have only my eyes above it.

She is going to start saying something but I put my hand over her mouth softly, even have a second to wonder how she manage to have such soft lips under such a burning sun.

"There's a man over there, please be quiet." I whisper softly to her. He is wearing a type of black and red uniform that I've never seen. He is yelling to somebody behind him and scouting the area, so taking him out is no solution. He's got friends. He looks at our direction but he doesn't see us. I hear barking and thank the heavens that the wind is against us not letting the dogs smell us. They look dangerous, Quinn said it like it would be an easy thing. She didn't say they were armed and had dogs.

"Did Quinn say anything about dogs?" As if reading my mind, San whispered to my ear now that I laid my head on the ground and tried to think. I open my eyes and see her eyes wider than ever. She's scared shitless.

"It'll be okay, anyway, we'll just have to find a way distract them." I put my arm around her waist and strain to hear that the men are going back to the house again. When I can only hear their voices and not theirs or the dogs paces, I feel Santana inching closer and grabbing my shirt like she did during her dreaming.

"Britt-Britt, I really don't want to die for Quinn's crazy idea."

"We won't, I promise you, I'll do whatever I can so you'll never get hurt. We'll be getting out of here in no time." I smile down to her trying to calm her when I feel scared shitless inside. I can't let her get hurt.

Her eyes are getting back to normal and she snapped out of wherever she had been in her head.

"Sorry, they just reminded me of a really bad time I had on my own."

I look hard at her face and decide not to pry again. Some other time, I'll ask her all the questions she doesn't want to answer.

"I don't like these people. I think we should bolt."

"No way, we are going through with this just as we promised Quinn…"

"They aren't even your friends yet, it was stupid to get you all tangled in this mission just when you just arrived." I would never say Quinn was stupid but the barking of dogs and seeing the size of that guy made me think twice if this was worth putting Santana in danger for.

"If we fail, she only looses one person she'll miss." She says with a strong voice staring at the blue sky above us. "That was her reasoning and, honestly, it just proves how deadly clever that girl is. Besides, I think it took her one look at me to know I wouldn't give you up to them. The Runaways, no matter how silly that name is, are your family. I have no one. I have friends but I never found a place I truly belong to. You are the closest thing to a home I've had and we've barely met. That's how sad it sums up to."

"I –" She gives me a peck on the lips to shut me up.

"Sorry about all this self-pity, let's try and find out who these people are." Santana says getting up slowly and trying to hide a stubborn tear that fell from the corner of her eye.

* * *

**Santana's POV**

We spent all day passing along the fence trying to take note of details of the people that lived in the house. They were about ten and a leader that was called Sebastian. They kept yelling for him since he seemed to be the only one with brains among them. During the afternoon three of them took the dogs and ammo and left in two monster trucks. We found our window of opportunity. When night fell, we got bolder and moved to the sides of the house, listening to their conversations. While the others were in the dinning room, eating and drinking like in some sort of party, Sebastian moved upstairs.

We found a barrel to get up on and I climbed over Britt's shoulders to peak to the window. I saw him looking about what looked to be the object that Quinn sent us to get. The room was completely dark and the device glowed strangely illuminating only Sebastian's face. It was small but consistent. I've never seen anything like it and I doubt Britt would.

Sebastian hissed frustrated and ran his fingers through his hair, he got up and we barely had time to climb down before he came to the window and lighted a cigarette. I was stunned. Cigarettes were one of the rarest goods these days and I think that I haven't seen any from up close since I left the orphanage.

"If only knew how to work on that damn thing. I really should have kept that stupid nerd alive." He spoke to no one but who could blame him, the idiots downstairs kept laughing forever. He took his thick framed glasses and put them on the ledge as he scratched his eyes. He turned around and back in and we let out the breaths we were both holding.

"That was close." Britt lets out a nervous chuckle.

In that moment, Sebastian gets out the door with a shotgun in his hand and comes straight at us. We only have time to get up and start running as he lets out a warning shot up in the air.

Brittany and her long legs have obvious advantage and I'm being yanked by the arm. We ran as fast as we can but the field offers very little protection. Our only luck is that it's new moon and we can barely see at arm's length ahead us.

That is, of course, as much as a blessing as it is a curse.

Suddenly something Brittany runs over cracks and all I see is she disappearing ahead of me. Before I can stop on my tracks, I'm pulled by the chain and it feels like I'm falling forever. I fall on my back while Brittany is struggling to get up. We are down some sort of basement or maybe some emergency escape course that the original owners of the house built. I can't see anything until I see Sebastian's gun reflects the house's light in it's barrel. We are fucked.

I can hear voices at the other end of the tunnel, Sebastian's men are coming through the other way. I feel the ground and find a rock that with a bit, well a lot of luck, I manage to throw and hit Sebastian's head. It confuses him so I climb the rope ladder beside I felt beside me and grab the gun and pull him inside the hole with us. He hits the floor with his head and it knocks him out. It is only then that I realize I could not have done that being chained to Brittany.

She is sniffling beside me and I there's now light at what seems to be the furthest corner of the tunnel.

"You have to go San, please just go."

"Britt, how? Did you unchained us? Why? How?"

"Please just go, I'll stall them, you have a chance of getting out of here." And she grabs my hand and pushes the key of the van against my palm.

"I'm not leaving you here, I'm not leaving you alone." I'm crying and holding her and she's pushing me away.

"I will not let you get killed because of me. Go. Go get help, tell Quinn it was all my fault." When she sees I'm not yells"GO"

They were getting so close and I was so torn. I couldn't leave Brittany behind.

"Please, don't make my sacrifice be in vain, please. They'll keep me alive to ask questions, you've got to trust me on this San. Please go get help." She pushes me away with more force that I thought she had in her and suddenly she is charging towards them. There's no way I can save her now and Sebastian was stirring up already. THINK SANTANA, THINK.

All I can do is run as fast as I can to get help and get back in time to save her. And pray…did I say pray? Damn right I'll pray if it gives me Brittany back, it's all I can think as I ran through the field and start the van. If anything happens to her, I'll kill every single one of them with my bare hands and I'll never be able to live with myself. Guess it's the end of the world after all.


	15. Chapter 15-1

**Thank you for your reviews :)**

**Guest: you should have more faith in me and Santana, we both love Brittany very much. :D**

**Diana, you might be right about the fighting. I was trying to make it confusing but not like, hard to read or anything. I wanted the reader to understand that both had only a notion of what happened and not what actually did happen. It was poorly written and I apologize.**

**I split my first idea for this chapter in two. It was supposed to have both POV in the same chapter but I just had to write the Brittany part and work does not allow me to stay up enough to write Santana's POV decently. So here you have part one and both will have titles from my queen Florence's song Rabbit Heart (Raise it up).**

**Chapter 15.1 – A Lion Hearted Girl**

**Brittany's POV**

As soon as I stop hearing San scrambling out of the hole I drop the act. I'm scared shitless and now I'm scared she doesn't go to Quinn for help but staring at the men with guns coming towards me I have more urgent matters to attend.

I drop to my knees and raise my arms the best I can. My left elbow is killing me, I twisted my ankle in the landing and rolled over a bunch of rocks as I tried to reduce the impact of the fall. Basically I'm all messed up. I would never make it out of the hole without putting both me and San in danger or worse, without killing both in the process. She's so small, I know she's stronger than she looks but I doubt she could have kept our previous speed and carry me at the same time. I'm relying on my charm only from now on and putting my trust and my life on Santana's hands. Let's hope Quinn is wrong about her.

"PARLAY" Like I expect they all stop and look puzzled at me. First, because they were expecting two and not one from Sebastian's descriptions (at least looks like it because half of them are frowning at me and the other half is looking around me waiting for someone to appear and second, they have no idea what I'm talking about.

"Sebastian never said anything about she being French?" a tall, blond guy at the front asked lowly to his buddies who looked puzzled at him.

"Someone said French? I know a bit, I learned it from a book, let me through." A guy with an afro comes near me with a torch-light suddenly hitting my eyes. "Bonjour, comment ça va?" and then he turns to his mates. "See, it means Good day, how are you? In French. Told you all it would be useful one day."

They all go "aaaaah" and look at me waiting for a response, the guy turns back to me and grins widely. 'I've never seen anyone french before, they look just like us.'

"Well, it's always nice to learn something everyday, but actually I was born in California." I say, shrugging.

"Oh. But didn't you say "parlais"?" He asks puzzled and they all tilt their heads like San does and yes, it looks way cuter on her.

"Oh no, I said "Parlay" like the pirate thing."

"Pirate thing?" They all ask in unison. They don't look very smart.

"Yeah, you know, pirates like Captain hook." I try to explain but it's kind of hard to explain things when your ribs make it hard to breathe.

"AAAAAAAH" They say all together, I wonder if they are some sort of rebellious choir.

"It means _If an adversary demands parlay, you can do them no harm until the parlay is complete._"

"Why would we do that?" The blond guy asks and I feel Sebastian struggling to get up in the back.

"Well, she is a girl, I don't want to beat a defenseless girl. We're eight and she's just one." The guy who knows French says. Let's just hope all of them are gentlemen.

"Oh c'mon she almost killed Sebastian. Let's kill her." Apparently not, specially that one at the back

"And we already killed a cute couple of old people, let's not make this worse." The guy who said that sounded almost ashamed.

"Yeah, well Sebastian did it but I think it all goes to our collective karma." The afro kid says and I think I've never been as puzzled in my life. Who are these people?

"True, true." they said exchanging knowing looks.

"Besides, the girl is quite hot." One in the back says. I thought they were all gay.

"And you should have seen the sassy one that hit me. If I wasn't gay…" Sebastian finally comes over from behind me with a hand on his head to stop the bleeding. He is smirking and he looks like a good-looking version on the devil. "Congratulations Brittany, seems you found yourself a hot girlfriend. Does she know you were creeping on her before you officially met?"

His bleeding has stopped and he crouches and looks me dead in the eye. He's one of those people who smells fear on other people and uses it for his advantage.I have no idea how he knows about it but the fact that he is talking to me and not pointing a gun has to be a good thing.

"Y—yes she does. But she's not my girlfriend, unfortunately as you can see she ran away. Left me behind." I have to look down, I keep chanting in the back of my head that she just went to get help but can't help myself feeling those insecurities creeping in.

"To get Quinn and all your friends, I'm sure. I've crossed paths with Santana Lopez and her gang more than once, she's really stubborn and for her to give you up so easily only means she already knows how to get you back. You see, you are only my bait." He laughs like I've just said the funniest thing in the beginning and it just sounds like an evil queen's laugh.

"So you are not going to kill me?" I have to ask even if all he's done tells me that he isn't.

"Of course not, Brittany S. Pierce. You are the most valuable mean for me to reach my end. That is only true while you are alive. I must, however, give you a clap (and he claps his hands once only) for managing to stop eight armed men to charge on you with pirate talk that they have never heard of it." He winks at me and gets a gun from one of the guys..

"But you have heard of it? Parlay?"

"Yeah, that's a clever move. You are definitely not as stupid as people perceive you." He smiles at me and it looks genuine, if there's such a thing in him.

"I'm strangely thankful that you notice." I'm being honest, I'm so used to be called an idiot that, even if it's the man that holds my life in his hands that says I'm not, I'm grateful. My parents always said to say thanks when you feel grateful. They never said it was only for people I like. They said for everybody.

"So tell me, now that you know I'm gay and that I know you are not stupid, can you guess why you aren't dead yet?" He circles me and points the gun at my back, I'm not liking this not one bit. He probably won't kill me but he can certainly shoot my foot and I need my foot to slow dance with Santana when she gets me out of here.

"Because you really want to see someone who belongs to The Runaways." He said as much.

"That much I've told you, you'll have to do better than that." Busted, second try. He said he was gay, who does he want? Who? Of course, he looks like he would like a boy in bow tie.

"Blaine!" I turn my head to size up his reaction, he looks startled. He has even dropped the gun a bit and he is wide-eyed, it takes him less than a second to get back to his normal devilish smile. I got plenty of training on reading expressions like that thanks to Santana's tough act, I continue my phrase now more secure of what I was saying. "You really want to see Blaine."

"You do not disappoint, Miss Pierce and you've earned yourself a free decent meal upstairs. May you ask how you knew?"

"Wel,l he is one the most handsome boys and the way your eyes shone when I said the name…" Might as well tell him the truth and let him know he does not fool me.

"Did it look like the way Quinn's eyes shine for Rachel Berry?" Woah, I didn't see that one coming.

"How the hell do you know that?"

"Like I said Miss Pierce, I've crossed paths with both the Runaways and the New Directions before and I have the incredible talent of never forgetting a face. Yours included. Miss Fabray could not expect to put shadows on the New directions without attracting some sort of attention. Not everybody is asleep." He says nonchalantly, I wonder if it's possible that he and Blaine might have talked about it... no, it couldn't be. Sebastian is so obviously a bad guy not even Blaine would miss out on it.

"I didn't know about any of this." The guy on the back that wanted to beat me up found his voice but it only took one look from Sebastian for him to lower his face.

"Let's go upstairs Miss Pierce, I'll allow you a bath and food, we may not know how long you are staying but we praise personal hygiene."

"Tha—thank you, I guess."

"You are welcome. You are probably wondering why I'm not cuffing you like Quinn did to you and Santana."

"Well, yeah. Are you a sidekick?"

"A psychic, you must mean? No, I just know that you have a leader with a lot of trust issues. I'm not cuffing you because you are going to stay put and not because you are scared of us. My file on you says that you are one tough cookie and that you once took down nearly 15 people to get inside a car a take a little boy out of it alive and well. You just calmed down an angry mob, not a lot of people would do that for some random kid. I know you are staying put because you want to believe Santana will rescue you which would mean beyond doubt that she loves you. Am I right?"

All I can do is nod, even if I wasn't thinking about it that clearly, it was definitely on the back of my head this whole time.

"Let's hope your leap of faith in Santana is profitable for both of us."

**AN2: AH and the "parlay" thing comes from on The Pirates of Caribbean.**


	16. Chapter 15-2

Thank you so much for the reviews once again. I hope you like Santana's POV too Sorry for the wait but work and christmas got in the way. I hope you had a nice christmas and if you don't celebrate that you had a lot of fun in any way, shape or form.

We are still under the influence of Rabbit Heart (Raise it up) :)

**Chapter 15.2 – A Rabbit Hearted Girl**

I step on the gas pedal so hard I think I'm going to bust the van's floor. I don't really know how but I get to the house a lot faster than I expected. It's also a miracle the car didn't roll over or get off track or against a tree. I had pinhole vision the whole time, all I could think about was how fast could I get back to Sebastian's house. How fast could I take Brittany out of there.

I was also so mad at her, why didn't she come with me, why the hell did she had to unchained me there? We could have made it, both of us. We could have made it. I have tears running down my cheeks that I don't bother cleaning because I have to keep both hands on the wheel. I'm not sobbing either I can't have the luxury of looking down or of closing my eyes when I'm constantly swerving this tin can through the road.

When I finally reach the house I bust over the gate and go straight into the yard. I stop the car and yell for Quinn.

"QUIIIIIN" I look all over, the lamps are starting to light up, the dogs are barking in the barn. I call her again and curse her at the same time. The woman never sleeps, she chose the worst timing for starting. THE ABSOLUTE WORST.

In my head I have a clock, tick tock tick tock. I'm almost voiceless, I could yell other people over but, weirdly, I only trust Quinn to do something. I fall on my knees and finally let the sobs come out. I don't think I've ever been this desperate in my life. I just want Brittany to be okay, everything was fine and in a moment it was all gone. It couldn't be like this. What if they hurt her? I found strength to yell for Quinn again but I hear her voice right beside me and before I realize what's going on, she is holding me and asking quietly what's wrong. I thought she was going to punch me for being without Brittany but it never happens. She just waits patiently until I calm down enough to talk. I take in her figure and I see she is wearing a welder's mask on top of her head and a leather apron. I look at her up and down.

"I was just mending yours and britt's bed, so you don't fall off when you come back." She raises her eyebrow and in a weird way it relaxes me. "where's Brittany?"

"There was no old people, no nice people, there was a whole squad of military-like men. Their leader's name is Sebastian and…and…and..they chased us and they took Britt. I tried to convince her to come but she just unchained me…how did she unchained me, Quinn? Nevermind, we have to…we have to." I get back up and start fidgeting around. The others started joining around us. They were fully dressed, I guess they are always on alert. I feel Kurt's hands on my back and then Mercedes arm around my shoulder. I would pass out right there if there wasn't for the thought of everything making no sense unless Brittany is here. Who are these people, I don't even know them. They are Brittany's friends not mine. At least, I hope they acknowledge how much I want to get Britt back as fast as I can.

"We need to plan this over, Quinn." Blaine says "We can't just leave, don't forget that I've known Sebastian from another life."

"Yeah, we all know how you teamed up with them in the early days behind our backs." Dave grunts as he finally approaches Santana. "I'm not leaving Brittany a whole night with those bastards, Quinn, grant me and Santana permission to go get Britt back. Whoever they are we can outgun them."

I nod to Dave and if I wasn't shaking so hard I'm pretty sure I'd hug him. Quinn is looking over us and I know she hates me for leaving Brittany behind. "I hate myself too, you know. I would never get back without her if I wasn't sure I'd have better chances if I called you guys in." I keep sniffling. I'm crying again before I know and find myself whispering "I just want to get her back." I'm pretty sure only Dave and Quinn heard.

"I'm going too Dave, Brittany is like a sister to me. Get as much guns as you can in the van, bring the kevlars too, three for now, who else volunteers." Quinn says.

"Quinn, I knew Santana was trouble from the start. I will not risk my life or Mike's for Brittany's stupidity. We all knew it would never end up right." Tina says behind me.

I find myself twisting in my heels and all that stops me from killing Tina is Blaine tackling me to the ground.

"Get off me, I'll rip her eyes out if she ever calls Brittany stupid again. She's a fucking genius you hear me? She's better than you, than all of you? I wish you all were there and she was here and I would never make a move to get you out of there. And you…" Blaine keeps me grounded and thanks to the heavens for that. I stare right at Quinn even if it means twisting my neck way too far. " You sent us on a suicide mission. They are ten and have weapons, Quinn. Over a device not even Sebastian knows how to work on! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?"

"Indeed, what the hell was I thinking?" She says as she kneels next to me. She looks hurt and just says lower so the others can't hear. "She's like a sister to me, never forget. We'll get her out of there, I promise Santana." I imagine it just looked like a stare contest between us. It calmed me, I felt hypnotized. I felt Blaine's grip loosen and I got up.

"I'm going with you then, I know Sebastian. I can speak to him, try to reach that long forgotten teenage bond we have… had" He adds because Kurt is paying attention to every detail on his face.

By now, Sam and Finn are already helping Karofsky to put the weapons of on the van. Sam decides to go but Finn stays. I'm still not convinced that he made me trip on purpose when we got caught I think he is just that clumsy.

"So me, Santana, Blaine, Sam and Dave are going to solve this mess, anyone else?" I don't see much enthusiasm; I just think more people really think Britt is just paying for her belief on me. I can't believe the nerve of this people, I'm about to get Lima Heights again when Quinn puts an arm around mine and puts me inside the van. I'm once again on the back of the van.

My mind goes out to the night I slept here with Brittany. I feel the tears taking over my eyes again. Before they can roll off I see Quinn with a shot-gun and a Kevlar on. She drops the shot-gun next to me and slaps me as hard as she can. I look at her wide-eyed and stunned. She points her finger at me and if I wasn't so speechless I'd say that's my signature thing.

"If I see another tear on your face I'll blow your brains out. You are not a weak person, you never were and you are not going to start now. We will get Brittany out and you will prove this people all the shit you said about Britt knowing better was true. I've been dying for someone to do it besides me since she joined us. . .together. Lopez." She says the last phrase with her jaw set, it's a bit scary I must admit.

"'kay." I wipe my nose to my already beyond dirty shirt. I'm going to get her back, we are going to make this. Breathe in, breathe out and the van starts moving.


	17. Chapter 16

**Hey, to everyone still reading this. Sorry that it took so long to write but I was having a hard time figuring out how to keep going since we've already seen how I can't write action scenes lol.**

**I hope you enjoy this***

**The title is from a Nine Inch Nails song.**

**Chapter 16 - Right Where it Belongs.**

_Brittany POV_

I'm staring outside the window in their living room. Nobody went to sleep, they are all armed walking around the house. Sebastian is on his room around the device. I put my forehead to the glass, thinking maybe this was all a mistake.

I keep feeling torn over this fear of Santana never coming for me and the fear that I'm just bringing my friends to a dead trap for my own selfish reasons. I know they can kick these silly boys' asses easily but still. There must be a reason why Quinn wanted that thing, what if it a bomb and everything goes off with a bang. She would have warned me and San if it was so wouldn't she?

And Sebastian said something about Blaine, didn't he? Maybe he won't hurt anyone because he only wants Blaine. I don't know, it's all very confusing to me. I look up and see the sky starting to be a lighter shade of blue, the sun is rising and an attack would be unwise. Maybe they'll come tonight. Maybe they won't come at all.

That's when I see it, some head lights At first I think I was having a vision because they disappeared as fast as I saw them. Then I look in the direction of the road and first rays of dawn make me see the hood of the van. I smile to myself but stay still. I look behind me and everybody is paying attention to something else.

Suddenly I see Sebastian coming down the stairs passing his fingers through his head. He sees the hope in my eyes and looks around the living room.

"Guys, get ready to rumble. We have visitors." He smirks at me and puts his bulletproof vest and gets a pistol.

I think of panicking but the van is already charging over the field and stopping at the far side of the house.

All the warblers are crouching with their guns pointed at the windows and doors, waiting inside for the right moment to attack. I keep myself against the glass thinking of how stupid this all is and why can't we all just get along.

That's when I see Santana's head peeping at the window. Sebastian is right beside me and looking at the other side and to the doorway, peaking only occasionally to me, saying silent orders to his men. He has his arm stretched and his gun is cold where it touches the skin of my right side temple. I try to stay cool even if all I want is jump up and down with joy for seeing Santana's eyes again. She signs with her hands that she loves me and I wink at her. Then she disappears into the night and my heart clenches in my chest. What if they hurt her or anybody from the gang, the iron barrel on my face is a reminder that things can get ugly.

* * *

_Santana's POV_

The journey was silent except for my occasional sniffles. I really wish I had Puck with me tonight, he was always the best mission partner. He could read my thoughts even before I thought them.

Sam has his arm around me and I lean into his side, all his blondness reminds me of Brittany. They should have been brothers. Quinn is driving with Blaine besides her. Dave nudges my feet every now and then as if to ask me if I'm okay. I respond with a nod and he settles to his place again.

I can't help thinking on how many ways this all could go wrong and get Brittany hurt.

We arrive at the house and put ourselves into place. Quinn and Blaine decide to point the gun at the door, they will attempt of a diplomatic mission. Before they can say anything the door opens slowly as the two windows open and the shot-gun barrels make their appearance. I can only see silhouettes since the sun isn't up yet and I'm a bit behind everybody since I went to say "hi" to Brittany.

"Welcome to my humble abode, ladies and gents, I mean you no harm. Despite these handsome armed fellows, I mean to have a word with you without having a massacre in my lands. Please accept my invitation, and the Warbler's, for a cup of tea." Quinn and Blaine put their hands up and I see the guys redrawing their weapons.

"I wonder what there is to talk about Sebastian, you could have just asked Blaine on a date instead of imprisoning one of my own." What the hell Quinn, do you want to die?

"Dearest Miss Fabray, you really are as beautiful as rumours display you, we can't have omelets without eggs. Even if I am happy beyond words to see Blaine former-Warbler here, it's with you that I want to have a conversation with. We both know I have something that you want, what you don't know is that I know you have connections I'm going to need before I figure out how to work with it."

"But, I thought it was all to attract me." Blaine whispers confused. He would.

"Ok, boys and girls, come over here. I'm can never say "no" to a tea." Quinn smirks in our direction and we start moving slowly. I realize there is at least a sniper on the roof with his gun pointed at me, that's relaxing.

Sebastian insists for us to leave the guns outside and we can't help but oblige. I do live a tiny pistol in my back and I'm pretty sure the others do the same. I feel like Sebastian knows this but he is smirking like he is so sure whatever there is that he wants to propose to Quinn is irrefutable.

"As a gesture of good faith, I give you Brittany here before we even talk. As you can see, no harm as come to her so far and I intend to keep it that way. I do have to admit her charm was crucial to that, be sure to ask her how she managed to confuse all of my men using only her words." Sebastian is walking ahead of us and I can't help but laugh imagining Brittany talking people out of beating her. If anyone in the world could do it, it would be her.

Quinn, Sebastian and Blaine sit down on the table, we scatter around the room and before I know I'm giving a peck on Brittany's lips and whispering that I missed her. She pulls me to a hug like there isn't ten armed men watching us.

"Ah, young love. Charming, isn't it? Remember when we used to be like that Blaine, before you went back to the lady lovin' business." Sebastian smirks.

"Please, I would rather not discuss this in front of everybody."

"And they say women have a hard time keeping focused. You got my ears, Sebastian. Use this time wisely…oh thank you." Quinn says as Sebastian hands her a cup of tea. "Darjeeling, my favourite. How do you found it, I've been looking for that for ages?" The tea is served and the porcelain cups turn the nonsense up a notch. I don't even care anymore, I get to hold Britts hand and she keeps smiling at me like it's the best day ever. It's really contagious.

"What I want, dearest Miss Fabray, is for you and me to have a partnership. You know Artie Abrahams, correct?"

"Well, yeah, from nearly another life." Quinn answers.

"I was informed, Mr. Abrahams is the only person in this coast that can work the device you sent those to snatch from me." He nods our way and I find myself moving to Brittany's front as if to protect her.

"Then our sources must be the same." Quinn side eyes Blaine and I set my jaw, that two timing bastard.

"I owed Sebastian my life, Quinn, one does not simply ignore that." Blaine excuses himself and I see Dave cursing beside me.

"That's okay, we'll deal with that later." Quinn's tone gave me chills. "Now, what will I get from that."

"We'll have shared custody of the equipment. Telecommunications are not something I have problems sharing. Besides, it takes two to tango, if we are going to have peace these days it requires compromises and friends. I, for one, have no one besides my men to rely and the same could be said about you Miss Fabray. If we can get the New Directions on board, well that would be just dandy."

"Why…what do you want with the New Directions?" Quinn stutters for the first time. I know the thought of Rachel is her only weakness.

"More manpower, they have fine soldiers and you could have your Rachel back. Everything will be right where it belongs." Everyone's jaws but Blaine's fall. Sebastian knows Quinn's soft spot, that means that if we walk away she is signing Rachel's death sentence. We need to partner up with these idiots. Oh everything just keeps getting better.

I feel Brittany's arm on my shoulders and I look up. I hear her whisper as if she listened to my thoughts. "At least now we have each other."


End file.
